Otsutsuki
by greymatter1098
Summary: I'll keep it brief. It's an Otsutsuki Naruto story. Naruto belongs to the same Otsutsuki Clan that Kaguya Otsutsuki hails from. Naruto & his siblings Hachiro, Ken & Mito Otsutsuki born with special chakra even by Otsutsuki standards are deemed a threat by the rest of their clan. Fleeing the massacre of their family they escape to Earth where they seek refuge with the Hyuga Clan.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Two young shinobi, both Genin, stood at opposite sides of The Final Valley, where Uchiha Madara and Hashimura Senju, AKA the First Hokage, fought a great and destructive battle.

Now, a descendant of Madara faced one of the fourth Hokage, in a battle to the death.

On one side, a blond boy, with the power of the Kyuubi sealed within him, seeping through to give him power, held a swirling orb of rotating chakra in his hand, tainted by the power of the Kyuubi. A red aura surrounded him, giving him the outline of a One Tailed Fox Demon. His slitted red eyes reflected that of the Kyuubi within him, its power seeping through the seal.

On the other side, a dark haired boy, his skin a dark gray color, a black cross mark on the bridge of his nose, held a blade of electric chakra in his hand. Two large, webbed handshaped wings stuck out from his shoulder blades, another effect of his current state. His eyes bore the three pupil Sharingan, showing he was indeed an Uchiha.

Suddenly, both ninja leaped forth, their jutsu extended to one another.

"CHIDORI!" yelled the Uchiha, his teeth bared, his black and red eyes enraged.

"RASENGAN!" called the blond boy, his lips pulled back to reveal large fangs.

Their attacks collided. Managing to conjure a second Chidori, the Uchiha tunneled it straight through the boy chest, obliterating bone, lungs and heart in one fell blow, impaling him totally on the arm. Blood gushed violently from the wound, dripping onto the orange tracksuit he wore. He gasped, with his last breath only scratching the surface of the Uchiha boy's head protector with his claws. More blood shot up to his throat, filling his mouth and dribbling over his lips, down his chin.

The gravity of the attack had scarred the earth further, leaving their imprint on the valley. The sheer force of their confrontation had greatly upset the water, even causing it to rush against the current. When they hit the ground, both opponents were returned to their normal states. The fox boy's aura had faded away, his dead, empty eyes now a deep blue. The Uchiha's hair had shortened dramatically, his skin color returning to a pale on and his eyes regaining their normal state as well. The large hands were gone.

Horrified at what he had done, the victor, Uchiha Sasuke, gazed down at the dead body of his best friend. A beam of light, bursting through the clouds, shone on the two, closing up slowly until it disappeared in a tiny thread on the forehead of the dead child, Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke's scarred headband untied itself, falling from his forehead onto the ground with a resounding clink, one that seemed so loud in this sudden silence.

"...Naruto..." Sasuke said, his arms hung at his sides, too appalled for tears. "I... I'm..." He was dead... by his own hand, he had killed his best friend. He had taken a life to achieve the Mangekyou Sharingan. "I'm..." Before he could say much more, a drop of water fell at his feet, soon followed by another, and another, until rain poured down on him.

He looked up, silently wishing for it to wash away his sin... until both his arms unexpectedly throbbed in horrible pain, causing him to fall to his knees, blood spurting out of his mouth. He had overused the Cursed Seal of Heaven...

The blood had landed right next to Naruto's head. By now, the rain had soaked him, washing away some of the blood, dampening his hair, held up by a Leaf Village head protector.

Sasuke, with his head hung over that of his friend, simply stared into those lifeless, saddened eyes.

A man with silver hair, accompanied by his canine companion, jumped from tree limb to tree limb, searching for the scent. The male wore Jonin clothing, as well as a mask and slanted Leaf village head protector, which covered his left eye. The dog had brown fur, and wore a blue top with a Leaf village head protector around his head. Their names were

Hatake Kakashi and Pakkun.

Suddenly, it began to rain. Kakashi realized that Pakkun would lose the scent of their targets, the twins Uchiha Sasuke and Sayuri. They had deserted the village to find Orochimaru, and Shikamaru had gone on with four other Genin to go after them: including Naruto. Who knew what disaster could happen if he didn't get there in time.

"Rain..." spoke Kakashi, before looking to Pakkun. "Will you lose his scent?"

"Doesn't matter, we're close enough," Pakkun replied, jumping into the gorge with Kakashi. Both landed on a small patch of land in the river. By this time, the rain was pouring. His silver hair was damp, and fell back. With his only opened eye, he saw a horrid sight. Both Pakkun and he were appalled when they laid their eyes on the boy who lay on the ground.

"Oh, no... We're too late."

The blond Genin lay in a pool of his own blood, and his blue eyes, wide open and blank, staring at the sky above. His blond hair was damp from the rain, and was held up by a Leaf village head protector. His orange tracksuit was stained with his own blood, drenched by the rainwater. There was a hole on the right shoulder part of his tracksuit. The blood came from a wound to the left of his chest, a gaping hole where his heart used to be, now nothing but a bloody pit. Because of this wound, blood seemed to have come out of his mouth, dribbling down his chin. Sasuke & Sayuri were nowhere to be seen.

Pakkun walked over to his side, sniffing the headband that lay at Naruto's side. It was of the Leaf village as well, but the steel had been scratched, signifying that its owner had become a traitor. He sniffed the headband before looking up at Kakashi. "It's Sasuke's... how did it come to this...?"

Kakashi knelt at Naruto's side, looking into his student's eyes. He closed his eye, letting a single tear fall from it. He then closed Naruto's eyes, picking him up in his arms. He looked down at him, sighing. "Naruto... forgive me... I didn't get here in time."


	2. Arrival

Chapter 1

Arrival

Staring out over the large village the trio wondered over the lights twinkling in the night, the lights in the windows and shops sparkling brightly across the sky in which the trio found themselves hovering in.

Mito's eyes were wide in awe. "Is this really what a village on earth looks like? Oh Kami it is so pretty!" She had never seen such bright beautiful lights and movement even at such a late hour.

Naruto hummed softly. "Yes, I never would have imagined something like this... "Looking over the area in thought he focused more on the movements of people and how they acted between each other.

"This isn't anything like back home that's for sure." Ken said observing the infrastructure, numerous buildings some apparently housing people while others serving as refreshment centers.

Through all this Hachiro stayed quiet slightly annoyed at his siblings banter at this time.

Naruto rolled his eyes at him and activated his Byakugan looking over the environment interestedly. "It looks like there is a lot of places where people can get things… It seems they are trading what looks like… Pieces of paper and… circles of metal? Weird…"

Hachiro let out an angry growl. "Get to the point we need a place to stay." Hachiro was not one for antics. He never cared for his brother's roundabout way of doing literally anything and always tried to break him of that habit.

Naruto waved his hand "I am getting there I am getting there keep your pants on." Naruto however never cared how his brothers felt, enjoying his own approach to life and ignoring the problems others had with it.

Hachiro lifted his arm to give him a whack but Mito quickly stood in the way. "Be nice Hachi. He is doing his best." Mito however was generally the one that kept the three together. Always going the extra mile to help both and settle arguments civilly.

"Yeah! Keep it cool bro." Ken agreed backing her up, he was the more laid back sibling hardly getting into arguments and occasionally helping Mito break their fights.

Sending one last glare at Naruto he lowered his arm for the moment.

Naruto looked around some more trying to find something then he paused, his eyes widening. "... uh… Guys?"

Mito leaned forwards "What is it Naruto?"

Naruto took a moment to think before Hachiro blew a little air. "Well, spit it out."

Naruto shook his head "Sorry, um. There… there is a bunch of people…"

Ken sweat dropped, "That doesn't tell us much."

Hachiro let out another fierce growl "There are people all over!"

Naruto sighed "No. There are people with our eyes, lots of them. They seem to be some sort of clan."

Hachiro's eyes widened at that. "What do you mean?"

Naruto shrugged. "They seem to be a clan themselves, descendants of ours maybe. All I know is clans usually have leaders… And clans usually have power too. So… Let's see about finding that leader. It will be advantageous for us to blend in. Not cause a fuss. So let's focus on that, okay?"

Hachiro seemed to settle a bit. "Very well."

Mito smiled a bit. "Sounds good. Now… Let's figure out a way in."

Ken grinned, "This'll be good."

Naruto nodded, pulling his hood down a bit and deactivating his Byakugan. "Let's go."

* * *

Konoha

Ghosting around the compound they took notice that all guards and people kept their Byakugan off. Naruto surmised it was likely due to privacy reasons. They turned a corner and worked their way through the compound being as quiet as possible. They quickly ducked into a room when they heard footsteps and Naruto activated his Byakugan silently. Doing a quick scan he shut it off again.

Whispering to his siblings quietly. "There is a room around the next corner with a man; his chakra network is much more advanced than anyone else. For now let's assume he is the leader. Let's go."

They nodded and opened the door again. Dashing around the corner they made their way to the door with the assumed leader. Stopping, Naruto knocked on the door.

Not a moment later they heard a firm "Enter."

Sliding open the door the siblings stepped in. He eyed them suspiciously. "Who are you? Why are you hiding your identities?"

Mito slowly pulled down her hood. Her long white hair falling out, and not long after the two others followed.

Naruto stepped forwards, his messy white hair falling just above his shoulders flowing back as he walked. "My name is Naruto Otsutsuki…" he paused feeling the man's chakra fluctuate. Did he say something wrong? Looking at Hiashi and seeing that the Hyuga wasn't going to say anything he continued "and these two are my siblings. Mito…" he felt another fluctuation but didn't stop this time "Ken and Hachiro Otsutsuki… We… We need your help."

Hiashi had been taken aback when the boy mentioned his and the girl's name but hadn't let it show. "And what exactly would that be? And why should I not have you executed for infiltrating clan grounds?"

Naruto's Byakugan activated, and he stared into the man's widened eyes. "Because we share heritage." Taking a breath Naruto deactivated his Byakugan, its use no longer needed.

Hiashi composed himself and settled into a neutral facial expression. "I see… Now. Explain yourselves and I may hear you speak your piece."

Mito stepped forwards. "We are of the Otsutsuki clan, ancient beings descended from the same clan as Kaguya Otsutsuki, mother of the Sage of Six Paths and his brother Homura. And by your eyes we assume that you share that same heritage. Our clan is a clan of warmongers generally travelling from planet to planet sucking the chakra and life force from them for their own uses. We have watched over earth for hundreds of years. Our parents having shunned the barbaric ways of our clan spent years fighting the elders to prevent us from falling under their sway until….until their recent passing."

Hachiro stepped forwards himself continuing. "From what we were able to gather, we have been progressing far more than what they would like and they set out to slaughter us. Our Tou-san and Kaa-san defended us, but lost their lives in the process." His words were slow and steady as if he barely cared.

Ken was trying to keep his emotions in check yet a small scowl developed on his face, "They slaughtered them like animals." He clenched his fists till they bled. "They died for us." He choked out.

Naruto's eyes were closed, Ken was trying to keep it together, Mito's head was turned down but Hachiro stood steady without a care.

Naruto opened his eyes and continued. "We got away and came down to here. We are seeking help to adjust to this world and help to reintegrate."

Hiashi closed his eyes and leaned back thinking it over. On one hand, alien beings coming down into his clans home, two of them sharing names with deceased former members of the village both from the same clan, was something hard to come to grips with. While on the other, their Byakugan and bloodlines are most probably much stronger than any Hyuga still on earth. This would be a huge chance to strengthen his clan's bloodlines and help further establish themselves as one of the strongest clans in existence.

Waiting with bated breaths they looked between each other. They had little in the form of options and were banking on the fact Hiashi would value their familial bonds.

Hiashi leaned forwards again "Very well. I have a few demands. Firstly all four of you shall marry into the clan. You will help strengthen our bloodlines through this. Secondly, you will reveal any and all clan secrets pertaining to the Otsutsuki clan to be filed into our own library. Thirdly I will place a seal on each of you, locking your eyes away should you ever die. And finally you will demonstrate any and all of your abilities. All this in exchange for your protection."

Glaring at the man Hachiro stood tall. "I will not allow you to place any sort of seal on me or my siblings. And I refuse to marry any one you place me with."

Naruto stood next to his brother in a rare moment of camaraderie between to two. "I agree. Under no circumstances will you be placing a seal on any of my siblings and I refuse to marry into this clan."

Ken joined in as well standing next to his brothers he glared at Hiashi, "We didn't escape one prison just to be incarcerated in another."

Hiashi looked at Mito who seemed to be contemplating it all before stepping forwards. "While I cannot condone any seal… I will agree to marry into the clan for our protection." She looked at her brothers shocked expressions.

Turning to them she nodded her head grimly. "If it means our protection I will do what I must to help us. Please understand."

Hiashi shook his head. "I am afraid that I cannot say yes to just one of you. And all demands must be met with a yes."

Glaring Hachiro stepped forwards again getting ever closer to the man. "And what if we just refuse flat?"

Hiashi glared. "I can have you detained as outsiders and tortured for information if you prefer."

Hachiro glared and just before his mouth opened Naruto put a hand on his shoulder. "Hachiro. Please let me handle this."

Hachiro was about to protest until he took a look into his eyes which shined with an immeasurable amount of anger and determination. Finally Hachiro backed down. Naruto gently kneeled down on one of the cushions in front of the man's desk. "Let's speak a little more civilly about this." Naruto motioned for his siblings to join him which they did.

Continuing on Naruto spoke slowly and with great control, "Under no circumstances can this seal you proposed be used on us. I absolutely refuse such a thing. I, Ken and Hachiro have also refused your offer to marry in to your family which we will not budge on. However my sister has made her decision and she can marry in which will trickle down and reinforce your bloodlines as you want."

Hiashi stared forward in curiosity. He has never met one so young speaking so affluently, "Definitely unlike Uzumaki." He decided it would not hurt to hear them out.

"As for your other offers, the Otsutsuki clan has hundreds of secrets you could only imagine. We would be willing to impart that knowledge onto your clan with a demonstration of each."

Hiashi thought about the offer for a moment. "And what exactly is stopping me from just torturing it out of you and then using you as mules to breed from?"

Naruto's eyes hardened. "Well two things. One, you have no clue how much power we possess. Admittedly we could not take down all of this clan but how many would fall in the chaos? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? How much are you willing to lose to get us? And then there is the fact of…" His eyes squinted into a deadly look. "What if when you eventually manage to whittle us down we kill ourselves to deny you everything and take however many of your clan with us?"

Hiashi narrowed his eyes at the fact. "And you think that I won't sacrifice all of that for the potential hidden in you?"

Naruto met his glare with his own. "I don't know, would you? Do you want to take this gamble?"

The staredown lasted for well over a minute before Hiashi sighed. Leaning back and rubbing his eyes lightly. "Alright, I agree. Mito here marries into the clan, and you impart all the knowledge you have of your clan's secrets into our library. Agreed?"

Naruto let up and smiled, standing up he bowed deeply. "I am very grateful that you accepted."

Hiashi nodded his head and stood himself, bowing to the same level. "As am I and in return for these secrets I will also give you one other thing, unrestricted access to our clan's libraries. Feel free to expand what you know with our own findings, as we will expand our own with yours."

"Jackpot!" the siblings thought in unison.

"However there is one formality we must first address before we take this any further." Hiashi said cutting their celebration short.

"And that is?" Hachiro asked.

* * *

Naruto narrows his eyes at the blonde woman. To the normal eye she looks like a total milf. The crafty debate he'd had with Hiashi Hyuga coupled with is chakra signature though tells an entirely different story altogether.

'This hag is no joke'. He telepathically relays to his siblings, receiving a mental nod from each in return.

The Hokage's eyes immediately fall upon him. 'What the hell! She couldn't have heard us. Did she? Is she a Telepath too?' Naruto thought.

The Hokage frowned.

'No she probably noted from our body language that some form of communication had just taken place amongst us. She really is a seasoned veteran.' Naruto concluded.

Tsunade gazed at them intently. "So tell me, why is it you three wish to be Shinobi of the Hidden Leaf? And tell me a little about yourselves."

Naruto stepped forwards "I wish to grow stronger to prove that I am THEEE GREATEST of all time, also to protect myself and my siblings should I be pursued by my family once again. And… I suppose I happen to like magic tricks."

Tsunade quirked her eye brow a bit. "Care to show me one?"

Naruto cracked a smile. Pulling a coin from his pocket and closing his hand around it. He opened his hand and it had disappeared. Opening his other hand the coin seemed to appear but was now two coins.

"He's a lot different from the gaki." Tsunade couldn't help letting out a small laugh amidst the small pang she felt in her considerable chest. Finally she moved her eyes to Mito "And you?"

Mito turned to the Hokage herself and bowed. "I want to grow stronger so I can stand alongside my family. As for things I like doing… I like gardening! I also like doing occasional pottery and decorating when I have time."

The Hokage turned to Ken gesturing him to speak.

Ken scratched his head not sure what to say, "Well I love to work out…I suppose I have a passion for reading…..that's about it." He stated bluntly.

The Hokage couldn't help but be amused, "Okay." She chuckled.

Hachiro had enough of this nonsense, beyond annoyed he spoke before the Tsunade could question him. "I don't see the point of all this. Bottom line is that the Hyuga Head is vouching for us as representatives of the clan in the Shinobi force." He tries to get his point across. "It's no different than all the other Hyuga you have under your command"

"I shall be the judge of that." Tsunade stated her eyes hardened with her adopting a serious demeanor.

"Sounds ridiculous if you ask me." Hachiro retorts.

"Hachi" Mito warns.

"Dude! Don't mess this up." Ken whispered.

"Watch your mouth boy; this is the Hokage you're talking too." Hiashi says reprimanding his young charge. "She's the supreme commander of every ninja of this village including the clans and us Clan Heads. If you wish to join the Force's you will do well to remember that."

Before Hachiro can say another word Naruto buts in. "I don't suppose there's anything we can do to prove our loyalty and credibility, whatever suits you more." He smiles trying to make a good impression making Tsunade blink a bit as she could have sworn she saw the gaki in his place for a moment there.

Mito nodded a smile spreading along her face "Please Hokage-sama, allow us to prove our loyalty." She bowed deeply trying her best to make as good an impression as possible.

Ken wasn't far behind, "We promise not to disappoint." He followed Mito's lead by bowing as well.

Hachi tried to open his mouth only to be met with three fierce looks making sure that for the moment he kept his remarks to himself.

Tsunade took a moment to compose herself before focusing on Naruto. "You're the smooth talker of this group aren't you?" she stated and Naruto had to stop himself from smirking at the astute observation.

"I strive to please." Naruto said in a mock humble fashion. "God she's so gullible." He thought.

"Asskisser!" Hachiro murmurs under his breath.

"Cut it out already." Mito punches him lightly. Then turning back to the Hokage. "We're prepared to abide by whatever rules you set for us."

Tsunade raised a brow questioningly "Are you sure about?" eyes shifting to Hachiro who scowled back. She continued "I can't have dissent amongst my soldiers. Rebellion of any form whatsoever will not be tolerated."

Hachiro began to speak but Ken beat him to the punch.

"Rest assured Hokage-sama. Should you give us a chance we shall never betray your trust. We'll protect his village with our lives." He said in a firm tone.

"I second that." Naruto added in his own two cents. "And don't worry about Hachi here." He flung an arm around his brother's shoulder who swatted it away. Naruto didn't let it get to instead continued. "I got his number."

"That's not good enough." The woman declared surprising them, a scowl covering her face. "I can't have one of my shinobi acting defiant against his commander in chief. It sets a bad example." She fixed her glare on the brooding child. "The only way any of you will be joining the Shinobi program is if each and every one of you swear your undying loyalty and submit to the village and the office of the Hokage." She declared. "Otherwise I'll have my Anbu see all of you to the village Gates. To hell with what Hiashi says."

"Who the hell does she think she is?" Hachiro clenched his Fists in anger. He turned to Hiashi gazing questioningly at him as if to say 'What's this hag's deal?' All he got in return was a blank look that said this was non-negotiable. Sighing in resignation the young Otsutsuki relented "Fine we'll do it your way."

The Hokage smiled adopting a pleasant personality again. "Wonderful!"

The siblings noted the complete 180 in personality."What a class act." They thought.

"So what do we have to do?" Naruto asks curiously. He noted Hiashi had an uncharacteristic grin on his face. "Hmm didn't think he could smile." Naruto intoned.

"Why am I getting goosebumps?" Ken wondered.

"Why join the Academy of course." The Hokage replied.

"What? You mean like a school?" Naruto asked gulping nervously. "We've got to graduate first?" Seeing the Hokage nod made him slump his shoulders in defeat.

"Great! Just what we needed." Mito rubbed her temples in frustration.

"Oh man." Ken groaned.

"Lousy fucks getting me into this mess." Hachiro Cursed in a low voice.

"Welcome to our world." Hiashi said in good humor as he chuckled at their downtrodden expressions.

"It's a pleasure to have you." The Hokage said smiling warmly.

'We're screwed!' The siblings collectively thought.

* * *

"I did not sign up for this." Naruto groaned his head resting on the classroom table.

"Well it could have been worse." Mito tried to lighten the mood, to not much avail.

"Doubt it." Hachiro snorted in disgust.

"For once I agree with him." Ken sighed.

When they were shown academy curriculum they began to have second thoughts about their decision to join the village. How the hell was Konoha the strongest shinobi village in the elemental nations when all its graduating genin knew was three basic jutsu that any decent opponent could disable at a moment's notice.

Then again maybe it was a bit hypocritical of them to judge others when they didn't even know how a jutsu worked let alone perform one but even so from what they were able to gather the general consensus amongst the villagers was that this year's graduating class didn't stack up to the last one.

Apparently last year's graduating class had been 'special' according to Hiashi considering it had been filled with clan's heirs.

There had been the Inuzuka known for their dog partners and collaboration Ninjutsu. The heir of the clan was Inuzuka Kiba, a loud and brash kid, he had brown hair and two red marks one in each cheek, symbol of his clan.

There was the Akimichi Clan. Their heir was Akimichi Chouji, a small boy with large bones, anyone who called him fat gets smashed. Their clan was known for using techniques relied on high calorie usage, meaning Chouji was always eating.

There was the Yamanaka Clan. Their heiress was Yamanaka Ino, she had long blonde hair and wore a dark blue outfit. Her clan used mind techniques. However unlike Naruto's telepathy they could only read thoughts through physical contact with their target and in order to control someone had to project themselves in astral form into the other person's body, whereas Naruto could remotely control others safely from the confines of his own.

There was the Nara clan. Their heir was Nara Shikamaru, he had pineapple style hair and wore mesh shirt with black sleeveless jacket and black pants. He was lazy and mostly through classes. The Nara clan was known for its members having high IQ and being extremely skilled in strategy and planning. Shikamaru's father was actually the Jonin Commander of the village.

There was the Aburame Clan. Their heir was Aburame Shino, he was a collected guy, distant to everybody. He had black sunglasses and wore a grey hoodie, which hid most his features. His clan relied on using bugs to fight. Their children once born are implanted with bugs that feed on their chakra so they can use them to fight.

There was the Uchiha Clan, a clan which held a dojutsu similar to their own called the Sharingan. The last members of this clan and heirs were Uchiha Sasuke & his twin sister Uchiha Sayuri. Both of whom had recently defected the village to join the rogue Sanin Orochimaru who himself was apparently one of the Hokage's former teammates and had only months prior attempted an invasion on the village.

There was also a girl named Haruno Sakura, she had pink hair and wore a pink dress. Even though she wasn't from any clan she had been the Top Kunoichi of the Year of her class. She was the daughter of Kizashi & Mebuki Haruno who were members of the civilian council.

The last clan was none other than the Hyuuga Clan and their heiress Hyuuga Hinata, Hiashi's daughter. The Hyuuga clan much like the Uchihas were known for their doujutsu the Byakugan. This bloodline limit when active allowed them to see chakra with high detail, almost 360 degree vision and long range extending to kilometers if trained enough. The clan also have the gentle fist taijutsu style which is renowned to be the strongest form of taijutsu. The four Otsutsuki siblings couldn't wait to learn this style.

"And finally Naruto, the HAS BEEN." Hachiro said referring to last year's deadlast who had apparently shared the same name as his brother. This Naruto Uzumaki had apparently been on the same team as the Uchiha siblings and Haruno girl. During a mission to retrieve the Uchiha twins this Uzumaki had been slayed by his former comrade Sasuke Uchiha. "Naruto the biggest knuckleheaded ninja ever." Hachiro continued.

"He has a last name you know." Naruto growled hating the fact that his brother was using the late Uzumaki kid to mock him.

"Too much of a hassle to say every time." Hachiro replied gleefully. "Besides it's not like I'm wrong or anything, Naruto is a total disgrace."

"Hachiro that's enough." Mito spat, though her words didn't seem to have any effect as Hachiro continued his tirade at Naruto's expense.

"They're not going to listen so save your breath." Ken told her. "At least they aren't getting physical with each other." He said trying to look on the bright side.

Naruto had had enough, two can play at that game. "Well Hachiro isn't all that great either. In fact he's so ugly that when he cries the tears change direction and go down the backside of his head so that they don't have to fall on his face."

Mito ended up laughing at this comment.

"And now they get physical." Ken sighed.

Hachiro obviously didn't take in such good humor."Okay that does it." Hachiro barked getting up from his chair but before he could make his way to his brother the Head Teacher Iruka Umino made his entry. "Great just my luck." Hachiro said glaring back at Naruto as if to say 'This isn't over' before taking his seat again.

"Good morning Class" spoke Iruka, where the class responded in like.

"Now as you know today is the last day that we will be together as a class and I hope you all are ready for your exam. Now as you know we wil-"said Iruka, but was then interrupted by a knock on the door.

A fellow Chunin came in, "Hokage-sama sent me to give you this." He handed Iruka a note. Iruka took the note and spent the next few minutes reading eyes widening briefly looking up and coming to rest on the sitting figure of Naruto Otsutsuki then breaking out of their trance and focusing back on the paper, when he finished he nodded to the other man who promptly left.

Iruka turned to his students, "Class we have four new students who will be joining us in the exam, they have been trained outside the village with their family. Hence have been given special permission by the Hokage himself to be allowed to skip the standard Academy training years and go right to the graduation exam to become official Shinobi of Konoha", spoke Iruka.

"Nice backstory." Naruto thought. "Well it's not a complete lie."

"Now you four." Iruka said pointing to siblings. "Will you please introduce yourselves so that we can begin the exam", said Iruka.

After the introductions were over Iruka came up and handed them the question sheets for the exam. For the next two and a half hours, the Otsutsuki siblings and the others students worked on the exam questionnaire suffice to say the siblings didn't know squat. Once time was up Iruka came up and collected all the sheets from the students, where Iruka then told them to come outside with them for the practical parts of the exam, something the trio were a bit more enthusiastic about.

Iruka then told them that they were going to test them on their throwing and aiming, where they would first throw their shuriken at the target poll, after which they were then throw their kunai at the three target dummies.

They aced it each of them each of them hitting the target dead center, getting a perfect score much to the chagrin of the others and the screams of one namesake.

Next was the Taijutsu exam, Iruka started to call out people in pairs and had them fight each other in Taijutsu.

Put against only civilian hopefuls the Otsutsuki's breezed through this portion as well effortlessly dispatching their opponents within seconds. Hachiro continued to brag that he did it quickest much to their annoyance.

Last but not least was the Ninjutsu Exam where the students had to perform the three basic Academy Ninjutsu, namely the Substitution Jutsu, Transformation Jutsu & Clone Jutsu in order to officially pass the exam and become Genin, failure to do so meant being held back another year.

When the siblings' turn came up they threw a big bombshell on the Chunin instructor.

"Yeah we don't know how to do it." Naruto said leaving them awestruck.

"W..what do you mean, you don't know?" Iruka said with disbelief. Was the kid trying to say that they came to give these exam without even knowing the requirements? What was the Hokage thinking? Letting them skip 4 years of the Academy curriculum was one thing but to let them come unprepared like this….it was ridiculous.

Hachiro decided to speak up at that moment "What the degenerate is trying to say but failing miserably due to that defective brain of his is that we don't know the necessary hand signs for those jutsu."

"If that's the case then I must insist that you postpone this exam for another year until you guys are better prepared." Iruka said with a tone of finality.

"Iruka-sensei why don't you just give us a demonstration, you show it to us once and then we'll do it." Mito asked nicely.

"How hard could it be?" Ken said confident as ever.

Iruka gave a small smile at the pleasant way the girl addressed him as well as the boy's enthusiasm. 'Those two should learn a thing or two from them.' "I'm afraid it's not that simple. Mastering these three jutsu takes months of hard work and even then very few students find that they can perform them well enough to use in battle."

"What's the harm in showing us?" Hachiro said growing annoyed. "Scared that you'll run out of chakra?"

"Hachiro!" Mito reprimanded, she quickly turned back to Iruka and bowed ashamedly. "I apologize for his behavior."

Iruka made a waving motion as if to say it was okay. "No need to apologize Mito-chan, and if you guys are that adamant on it I don't see any harm in at least showing you how its done."

For the next ten minutes Iruka demonstrated the three jutsu for them, he couldn't help but chuckle at the intense look on their faces, Byakugan activated as they watched him perform the jutsu. If it were only that simple. They might be able to determine the hand signs and chakra needed for the jutsu but there was a huger difference between getting the theory down and practical application. They'd still need months of practice for their bodies to get used to it enough to actually perform it properly.

Finally as he canceled his transformation reverting back to his real self he spoke. "Well now that you know what to do I expect you to have these jutsu down by the next few months."

"Or we could do it now and be done with it." Mito said a sly grin on her face, a sharp contrast to her previous sweet & innocent self that the complete 180 left Iruka unnerved.

"I don't-" Iruka tried to say but paused when the siblings began going through the hand signs.

"Clone jutsu." The siblings yelled, in a burst of smoke three identical clones of each stood on either side of the room. Quickly repeating the process with a different set of hand signs, "Substitution Jutsu!" they switched places with their clones. The clones were then dispelled.

"And last but not least, Transformation Jutsu." The four transformed into each other…well for the most part. Naruto had transformed into Mito, Ken into Hachiro, Hachiro into what can be described as a version of Naruto suffering from final stage arthritis & finally Mito into Ken.

Iruka was openly gaping in astonishment now. Finally he managed to find his voice, "Well I can't say I was expecting this. However.." he said turning to Hachiro/Naruto. "You look like you could still use some practice."

WHACK

Hachiro dropped his transformation as the slap from Mito landed him on his hide a red imprint on his face.

"Stop fooling around Hachi! I know you did that on purpose. This is serious." She said furiously her hair flaying wildly around her giving her the appearance of an angry demoness not unlike another white haired woman from a millennium prior. "You don't see Ken fooling around. Heck even Naruto has more cla-" she stopped mid-sentence seeing Hachiro pointing at something. She turned around to see Naruto still transformed as her stretching the neckline of her top and peeking inside. A dark purple aura began to emanate from her.

Sensing the rise in chakra Naruto stopped what he was doing and gazed in her direction and immediately paled. "Uhh….I was….catch you later." He quickly scooped up a head band. "Looking forward to working with you guys." he yelled back and teleported away before Mito could get to him.

"NARUTOOOOOO!"


	3. Team test and missions

Hyuga Compound

Knocking softly on the wood wall next to the sliding door the soft voice of Mito echoes through. "Naruto? You in there?"

The only thing she received back was a small mumble echoed without thought. She let out a slow sigh and slid the door open. Walking over to the futon Naruto slept on she kneeled down and gently shook him awake. "Naruto… Naruto… Come on, help me out here."

A small groan made its way out from the back of his throat and he gently placed a hand on the floor, pushing himself up to a sitting position. Looking up into his sisters' eyes with a questioning look he asked. "Yo, what's going on?"

Mito shook her head. "You know, you really should have waited longer till you left, there were team placements."

Raising an eyebrow in question he continued. "Team placements? What exactly does that entail?"

Mito glared at him for a moment. "If you stayed around and took your beating like a man you would have found out."

Naruto gave a nervous chuckle. "Yeah sorry 'bout that."

Mito just shook her head in mild dismay at his antics. "Anyway, teams are separated by one Jonin sensei and three genin students. However in our case due to the uneven number of students we were organized into a five man squad. We were assigned to team 11 under one Yamato. No last name apparently."

Naruto hummed in thought. "All right. Well, it must be late so let's catch some more z's before morning."

He attempted to lay back down only to be yanked up by his sister. "Nope, it is 4 am and he said to meet by 4:30, you will just have to deal."

Whining as his sister dragged him from his comfy sleeping quarters with small tears running down his face "But I want to sleep~"

A hard look from his sister as she dragged him away shut him up. "Too bad, you already missed his introduction and you are not being late! Understand me?" Her eye twitched dangerously and Naruto gulped, nodding vigorously as she let him go. Immediately he started pulling out a set of his normal robes and shuffled quickly into the bathroom.

Mito huffed as she walked towards the door once again. "Good."

* * *

Naruto sighed as he paced back and forth on the training ground. Ken, Mito and Hachiro seemed perfectly fine being here ten minutes early, but this was just annoying waiting around. Looking to the sky he groaned at the fact he was up before even the sun decided it was time to wake up.

Sighing he dropped into a lotus position he pulled out some scrolls he pulled from the Hyuga Library. Some chakra control procedures that must come before one even attempts to use the gentle fist. He found that a lot of the things that the gentle fist focused on was carefully focusing chakra around one point in the hands and sort of tapping your opponent. It seemed rather odd but, results were still results.

Hearing a soft tap of feet hitting the ground the three turned to a man who by all means, looked a little odd. A face guard surrounding a rather scary looking expression and slightly spiked up short brown hair. Combined with the normal Jonin flak jacket and blue combat pants.

His eyes locked on Naruto and for a moment the two stared at each other. Neither making a sound. Then as if some force was lifted he spoke. "Why exactly were you not at the team placements?"

Naruto let out a low chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you see…" He glanced to the side for a moment before locking eyes again. "I went to the bathroom and when I sat down to use the toilet an alligator came out! I was forced to take cover but it just kept coming. I was forced to spend the next hour wrestling it into submission in order to use the toilet." Naruto's grin was practically palpable at his clever excuse.

Yamato's eyes went dark and he leaned forward and over him taking on a truly terrifying look. "Do I look like someone who enjoys jokes on the job?"

Naruto leaned back a bit laughing awkwardly at being called out. "Well… You see…"

Mito clicked her tongue "Naruto was being pervy when he transformed into me and tried to look down my shirt."

Naruto looked at her with eyes of betrayal "Hey! That was a private encounter!"

Hachiro scoffed. "In front of two Chunin instructors. And us three as well."

Ken added his own two cents. "Not to mention you stayed in that form all the while she chased you all over the village. People were freaked out."

Naruto lowered his head, taking on a mock depressed stature to hammer in his grief.

Finally having enough of their antics Yamato barreled his voice "Enough!" He slowly reached into his pouch pulling out three seemingly inconspicuous tags.

Looking between the four he continued to speak. "You see you four will be on a capture mission. The target: Me." He paused a moment to take in the reactions of the four. They seemed to perk up a bit, moving around to get in a line in front of him. "You see this test you are undergoing is the real test. A mission-based test issued by your Jonin sensei in order to see if you are really worthy of being Genin for the hidden leaf. I will be testing your skills in battle as well as your ability to coordinate your attacks and actions. You will each be given one of these tags here; they are weak paralysis seals, in order to stop my movements your goals will be to stick these paralysis seal's onto me and 'capture' me. Understood?"

Naruto waved his hand in affirmative as he thought over battle plans. Mito seemed ready along with Hachi & Ken both of whom gave simple nods.

Yamato looked between the four then handed each one of the tags then pulled out a clock, setting it on a rock and setting the timer. "It is now five in the morning, you have until eight. If you cannot capture me in three hours enemy reinforcements arrive on all sides and you 'die'"

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he looked at his siblings. And like a grand bell Yamato's voice boomed out. "Begin!"

Naruto quickly grabbed his siblings. "Woods. Now."

Together the three dashed towards the woods quickly hiding in the brush. Mito looked towards her brother curiously. "All right," Naruto started. "Firstly we have to keep in mind we are facing what this village would call their best. So, in that case, let's try to throw him off guard."

He sat for a moment thinking it over before nodding. Taking his tag out and handing it to Mito. "You guys too."

Ken seemed ready to comply but Hachiro sent out a glare towards his brother. "I see no reason to do so."

Sighing Naruto continued on. "You and I have the greatest damage potential, Ken's good with defense but Mito can mask her movements much easier than all of us. So in order to throw him off guard we will do a full force attack to make him think that is all we can do. While in reality, we are simply masking Mito's movements to get her in close to attach those tags."

Hachiro seemed a bit confused. "What exactly do you mean, don't we have to attach them ourselves?"

Shaking his head Naruto replied. "He never said anything along the lines of that. He said that we had to get them on him, not who or how."

Ken turned towards Hachiro, "He's got you there Hachi." He said impressed.

Hachiro begrudgingly handing his seal over to Mito. And looked back towards Naruto "What is the plan then?"

Ruffling his own hair Naruto looked between the two. "All right then."

Busting out from the brush and drawing out two of his ribs and forming them into pseudo blades he charged his enemy.

Eyeing him immediately he took note of the rather unique bloodline he had only heard rumors of. Taking his stance as one of the blades came forwards to pierce his throat. Pulling a kunai from his pouch he parried and retreated back to keep his distance. Continuing on with his assault Naruto spun and attempted multiple slashes all of which skillfully dodged and countered by the skilled jonin.

Jumping into the air with both blades held in a reverse grip he thrust downwards for advantage. Just as Yamato brought a second kunai out to counter he had to retreat once again from the air shaking punch thrown by Hachi which left a small crater in the ground. Not wasting a moment they swerved between each other, crossing their own paths multiple times in an attempt to disorient their foe.

Tossing both Kunai he quickly started making hand seals only for Ken to burst from the ground beneath him landing a strong uppercut that left him dazed. His open guard allowed one of the bone swords to stab through his left hand. Quickly recovering he flipped backward as if not fazed by the blood leaking from his hand he pulled another kunai from its holster and slashed out to the incoming Hachi. Quickly acting Naruto held his bone sword in both hands and blunted the edge. Slamming down on the hand the Kunai was holding and hearing a crunch echo from the appendage Hachi took advantage and threw a harsh uppercut straight into his stomach straight into a tree.

"NOW!" Mito shunshined before him preparing to apply the seal when suddenly Yamato turned into a Wood Clone.

"What the…" Mito was cut off when large wooden roots erupted from the ground binding the siblings tight while they struggled to break free.

"The hell is this." Hachiro cried as his body exploded with lightning incinerating his binds.

"Beats me." Naruto replied as a series of bone spikes shot out from his body cutting through the wines.

They noticed Mito & Ken were still struggling against their bonds. "WHAT'RE YOU TWO DOING?" Hachiro yelled his ire mostly focused on Mito as he glared at her. "Use that whip of yours and get out."

"HANDS TIED HERE." Mito yelled.

"Useless." Hachiro muttered under his breath.

"GUYS! THIS ISN'T THE TIME." Ken screamed straining against the crushing wood.

"I got it." Naruto said as he moved to free them several more wines emerged from the ground shooting towards him, fortunately he was easily able to parry and maneuver through them and with a swipe of an elongated bone claw got rid of the roots imprisoning his siblings. The remaining roots attempted to ensnare them again but were done away with via Hachiro's lightning illuminating the area with its glow.

"THAT ALL YOU GOT." Hachiro yelled out loud hoping to taunt his foe out of his hiding place.

"**Wood Style: Four-Pillar Prison Technique!"** Thick stalks of timber came out of the ground surrounding the wannabe genin and trapping them in a large wooden prison cell. Much to Yamato's dismay however the four poofed into logs immediately, subsequently Yamato had to dodge a barrage of lightning aimed at him. Naruto & Ken appeared behind him and in front of him respectively, attempting to stab his shoulder but Yamato with years of experience working in his favor elbowed Naruto hard on the face while kicking Ken through his guard knocking them away as well as dispelling them both. "Clones." He was forced to dodge once more when the ground where he was standing was destroyed courtesy of what appeared to be a red chakra whip wielded by Mito.

"I've never seen a jutsu like that before." Yamato said as he noted he was flaked on all sides by the siblings. "You guys are full of surprises." He grinned.

"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING YET." Mito roared creating another chakra whip she swung them at the Wood User who proceeded to gracefully dodge each strike.

"Come on now its four against one, hardly fair." Yamato said as three wood clones sprouted from him and engaged the approaching boys while he continued to move out of harm's way.

"Oh come on! JUST GO DOWN ALREADY." Mito yelled as she charged at the Jonin whips flaying wildly behind her.

"**Wood Style: Silent Strangle Jutsu!"** multiple branches rapidly grew from Yamato's hand and shot towards Mito who responded by chopping them to bits via her whips. With a war cry she leapt at her opponent swinging her whips at him her activated Byakugan allowing her to strike with precision. Yamato for his part easily managed to evade the limb tearing chakra constructs.

"Stand still." Mito growled in frustration.

"I'd rather not." Yamato replied before his eyes widened as his senses picked up an incoming projectile. He managed to side step just as a bone spear zoomed past his head. The momentary distraction allowed Mito to bind him with her whips however. He prepared to substitute himself out of her hold before she could apply the seal on him, unfortunately a barrage of lightning electrocuting him from behind rendered him knocking the breath out of him temporarily immobile & numb.

By the time he regained his bearings he was covered with all four paralysis seals courtesy of a now ecstatically grinning Mito. "We did it!" Running over to her now rather exhausted teammates and throwing an arm over each. Jumping up and down a bit. "Perfect as always guys!"

Naruto chuckled lightly at her reaction to the whole thing and rubbed the back of his neck lightly. "We all did our part, we did well."

"That's one tough motheaaAAAOOOWW." Hachiro cried as Mito withdrew her fist.

"LANGUAGE!" she barked Byakugan activated in fury to get her message across.

"Tsk!" Ken expressed his disapproval.

"Morons!" Hachiro cursed under his breath so his siblings Mito in particular didn't hear him. Didn't work.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Mito growled a dark aura around her.

"NOTHING! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD." Hachiro yelled back in irritation.

Yamato having someone recovered let out a small groan as he sat up ever so slowly. Trembling hands reached towards the tags and he peeled them off. "Good job you guys." He said gaining their intention breaking their spat. "Congratulations on becoming fully fledged genin. I have to commend the planning implemented, I am impressed you noticed my wording when it came to the seals as well as your ability to direct me right where you needed me. If I was a chunin I would have been captured no doubt." He continued to wrap his hand with a bandage as the siblings continued their celebrations. "So, we are now officially Team 11! Meet me here tomorrow for our first mission! 7 o'clock sharp!" he said before disappearing via shunshin.

* * *

Yamato shunshined into the Hokage's office, "Team 11 pass."

Tsunade smiled, "As expected. What do think of your new squad?"

Yamato met her eyes, he'd been observing them as pe rher orders ever since they left the Hokage's office the other day, "They're a very talented squad, took me by surprise a couple times."

The Hokage quirked her brow at that. "Really! Well I must say I should have seen that coming. They stood out from day one when Hiashi first introduced them. That boy Naruto Otsutsuki in particular has a silver tongue and seems pretty sharp."

"Notwithstanding the fact that he shares the same name with our resident Jinchuriki." Yamato added but fliched when he saw his leader get downtrodden at his words.

"Yeah that too." she admitted.

Yamato couldn't hold his curiosity, "Does he remind you of him?" he asked.

She shook his head, "No! aside from the name the two couldnt be more different." She hardened her eyes once more discarding emotion for the time being. the past was better left buried along with those in it. "Back to business what impression did you get from them individually?"

Yamato seeing the change in his superior's demeanor followed suit, "The girl Mito comes off as a sweet and friendly girl who cares deeply for her brothers and plays as a sort of peacekeeper between them. It seems she's completely devoted to her siblings."

The Fifth nodded, she'd thought as much.

Yamato then started on Ken, "Now that kid seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Cool minded, focused, can take a hit, good strategist and plays to his strengths. However from what I've seen so far he doesn't seem to have the same versatile arsenal that his siblings do forcing him to fight a bit more defensively."

Tsunade processed this information, "Interesting."

Yamato continued, "Now Naruto….he's a bit of a loudmouth not to mention stubborn as hell much like his namesake the Kyuu…sorry I mean Naruto Uzumaki." Yamato corrected himself seeing the Hokage frown in displeasure at his choice of words. "However unlike Uzumaki this guy is not just stronger he's far more refined and crafty."

The Hokage quirked a brow demanding an explanation.

Yamato elaborated, "He's more mature than his years would allow and seems to have a degree of world weariness. He adopts a laid back attitude but is actually quite studious. Has an arrogant side too, loves to brag about his abilities, and seems pretty ambitious to gain more. He's hungry. He also possess the ability to weaponize his skeleton."

This caught the Hokage offguard, "You can't mean."

Yamato nodded, "It appears Naruto Otsutsuki possesses the Dead Bone Pulse Kekkei Genkai of the Kaguya Clan of the Hidden Mist."

The Senju woman couldn't believe it, "But these children are from space and the Kaguya Clan has been extinct for years."

Yamato sighed, "I didn't believe it either until I was got skewered in the hand by one of those blades he apparently extracted from his ribcage."

The Hokage massaged her temple trying to process this information, _"Could it be that their claims of being related to the Mother of All Chakra are true? And here I thought our Naruto Uuzmaki was the unpredictable one. If this gets out it could spell trouble. At the same time the Mist has been expelling Blood Line Users in their village so they might not make a big deal out of it. However the Cloud & Stone are a completely different story."_ She ceased her musings to look back at her subordinate. "I see! And the last one?" she saw Yamato grow a bit puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Yamato sighed, "If I may speak freely Hokage-sama." Getting a nod he resumed. "That boy is an enigma and to be quite frank, he rubs me in all the wrong ways. I've got a bad feeling about him."

Tsunade frowned. "So you've sensed it too."

Yamato nodded, "He mostly wastes time arguing with Naruto, throwing a tantrum every now and then just like any other teen would. In spite of that I keep getting these bad vibes from him unlike any other teen and when he hit me with his lightning it was…" he trailed off unsure how to phrase it.

The Hokage looked at him confused, "Whats the matter?"

Yamato met the Hokage's eyes, "It felt awkward. When it hit me it felt like being hit by a giant boulder and the shock itself was enough to incinerate me."

The Hokage looked at him with disbelief. "You can't be serious."

Yamato sighed, "I wish that was the case….then all of a sudden the frequency lessened and the electrocution died down to merely a paralyzing sensation."

"Perhaps he merely wanted to disorient you before lowering the voltage." The Hokage suggested wanting to give the boy the benefit of doubt.

Yamato shook his head, "I thought so too. But it doesn't end there. The voltage was fluctuating."

The Hokage appeared confused, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

A grave look appeared on Yamato's face, "It means that he was forcefully restraining himself from killing me."

THE Hokage was unconvinced, "Tenzo I'm aware that the boy has a dark side to him. But you can't mean to tell me that he's that far gone that he has urges to kill someone at his age. He's only fourteen for god sake."

Yamato sighs again. "I could feel his emotions."

"Pardon!"

Yamato repeated himself, "I could feel his emotions during the electrocution the way the frequency went up and down it felt like he was torn between his desire to kill me and the need to restrain himself. Hokage-sama those kids are strong no doubt about it but at the same time…..they could easily be misled."

"Great just what I needed." The Hokage massaged her temples feeling a migraine coming up, "We are on the same page then?" it was more a statement then a question.

Yamato nodded again, "Yeah! They need to be kept in check."

* * *

The siblings moved into a small bungalow near the main building on the Hyuga compound. It was a modest home with the Otsutsuki Clan crest on its walls. While the four had been accepted as wards of the clan this did not make them part of the said clan themselves. The reason for this was two-fold primarily because Naruto, Ken & Hachiro had no interest in giving up their family name nor adding another to it through some arranged marriage and secondly to avoid any uprising from the Branch family as they might complain why unknown outsiders were being given privileges that they as family were not. As such they were given separate quarters from the Main & Branch families. Until such time that Mito was married into the Main Branch (They bargained for that) at the age of twenty (That too) she would reside in the Otsutsuki home with her siblings.

The property still belonged to the Hyuga but was currently allotted to the quads as per their deal, they couldn't claim ownership over it. If they wanted their own homes they'd have to purchase them out of their pockets. As wards their upbringing or whatever was left of it would be seen to by the Hyuga nonetheless they still had to earn their keep and income via missions and conduct in order to bring prestige to the clan. They had to give up their clan scrolls to the Hyuga library, considering that no one but themselves could perform those techniques to their full potential they didn't offer much resistance in surrendering them.

The Hyuga Elder Council had posed a problem. They hadn't been willing to budge on the issue of the Curse Seal and had insisted that each of the siblings enter into an arrange marriage of their choosing. The quads had replied that they would leave if such a thing happened and would annihilate anyone that attempted to stop them. The Elders in their arrogance had not been amused nor intimidated. The two parties nearly came to be blows but were stopped by the timely intervention of Hiashi & the Third himself who collaborated the siblings claims regarding their abilities and vouched for their sincerity in regards to the bargain. Even so the elders still weren't keen on allowing such dangerous outsiders into their clan without any form of leverage over them but let the matter rest for the time being. They couldn't deny after a demonstration of the children's abilities that they themselves weren't eager to have those genetic traits introduced into their clan. While not on paper they would still attempt to woo at least one of the boys into marrying into the clan, they had ample time to do so after all.

The siblings' impression of their fellow white eyed people jotted down to one sentence. 'They were a bunch of stuck up pricks'. They didn't like jokes, were an oddly serious lot, quiet and reserved and seemed to have a god complex, the elders especially quite apparent in their treatment of the Branch family. Speaking of whom, those guys with those seals on their foreheads were only of the sorriest bunch the siblings had the misfortune of meeting. While they attempted to hide it under an emotionless subservient façade, their sullenness and distaste for the Main Branch was almost palpable, however they could never show it as the slightest hint of anger would have a Main family member pick up on it and activate the seal causing unbearable agony to the branch members' nervous system. It was a pitiful existence which made them glad that they were able to bargain out of the seal application.

Fortunately not all Hyuga were 'bluenoses' as Ken liked to call them. One of the exceptions to the 'regular Hyuga' being Hiashi's elder daughter Hinata & her caretaker Ko Hyuga though they supposed Natsu Hyuga the caretaker of Hiashi's younger sister Hanabi was kind of nice too. However they spent most of their time with Ko & Hinata as the former had been assigned to oversee their education in the Hyuga Clan techniques and customs.

From their conversations and training together the siblings had concluded that Hinata was a meek, timid person who stuttered as a result of low self-esteem & shyness, hardly the criteria for a fighter. She also had an annoying habit of blushing constantly which didn't do her any favors in their eyes. Even Mito who arguably possessed the warmest personality amongst them found Hinata's overly kind and self-conscious behavior not fit for the life of a professional killer. In short they could understand why she had been removed from her position as Clan Heiress. Though given her high birth and status as the Clan Heads Daughter and their own minor standing as 'Wards of the Clan' or 'Free Loaders', as the Branch Family children, that Neji kid in particular (what was his problem anyway) liked to call them, they were meant to mind their behavior and keep their opinions to themselves.

Now her sister Hanabi, if they could see why Hinata was passed as heiress they could definitely see why Hanabi was granted the title. Confident, hardened, talented & determined, all these qualities considering her age made her the perfect candidate for leading the Hyuga Clan in the future and totally kill it as a shinobi.

That didn't mean they liked her any better. She was another 'bluenose' who even after a live demonstration of their strength viewed them as unrefined barbaric ruffians undeserving of the Byakugan. Naruto had nearly given her a peace of his mind which in his book meant a powerful telepathic attack to fry her brain, then and there but refrained when Ken reminded him that doing so would bring them back to square one with both the Otsutsuki & Hyuga Clan after them this time.

Inspite of all this they had a roof over their heads, three meals a day & were getting trained to boot, they could have done worse.

* * *

2 days later

"UGHH! Why can't we do something more interesting? This is like our 7th D-rank mission this morning!" complained Naruto.

Naruto, Ken, Hachiro and Mito currently had trash bags tied to their back, as they picked trash out of the small stream. While Yamato was sitting on a Tree Branch sharpening his Kunai.

"Would you shut it already?" Hachiro barked. "We're doing it too, you don't hear us complaining." Though he himself didn't sound too happy about their current predicament, his brother's constant blabbering was just adding to his frustration.

"That's impossible." Naruto replied.

"I knew you were dumb. Are you blind also? What else have we been doing for the past 2 hours?" Hachiro said starting to lose patience.

"I meant shutting my mouth." Naruto explained grinning. "It's impossible."

"Ten seconds!" Ken suggested.

"Impossible." Naruto remarked.

Ken looked at him in disbelief, "You can't stay quiet for ten seconds?"

"I'm telling you it's impossible." Naruto repeated grinning madly, making both Ken & Mito sigh at his antics.

"That does it." Hachiro said moving purposely towards Naruto clutching the stick he had been scooping trash with intending to bash his sibling's brain in with it.

He didn't get far before Yamato appeared between them, "Well, Naruto if you guys didn't do these so quickly, then maybe you wouldn't have to do as much. As well I don't see why you're complaining. The more D-ranks you complete the closer you get to an actual C-Rank. At this rate you might get your first in 1 month?"

"WHAT?" shouted both Naruto and Mito. Ken and Hachiro merely rolled their eyes starting to regret their decision of joining the village.

Yamato laughed at them, "You're actually lucky you haven't had to chase the cat, Tora. I heard it takes most experienced genin teams at least a half-hour to find it, and an hour chasing it."

"Seriously! That mission was on the table and you didn't take it." Naruto looked at his teacher in disbelief. "I'm the fastest guy around, I would have caught her in no time."

"And then we'd have to pick trash and mow lawns again." Ken reminded him.

Naruto did a double take at that. Trying to save face he said, "We'd at least get a warmup."

Ken snorted, "Some warmup! Couple of seconds. A minute if we're lucky." While Naruto lowered his head in depression.

"Give it a rest already. This is like our 3rd mission today, and it isn't even noon. If you keep causing distractions like this we'll be here all day!" Mito reprimanded him.

"I still think these D-Ranks are a waste of time." Naruto complained stubbornly. He quickly ducked his head as a wooden stick swung over it. "You crazy?"

"I'm putting you out of your misery." Hachiro said stalking over to him.

"Stay away from me." Naruto warned backing away, unbeknownst to him the trash bag was right behind. His foot caught it and the impact had him tripping while at the same time the bag fell into the stream littering it with its contents once more.

"_NOOOOOOO!"_ the other three internally cried in anguish seeing their hard work go down the drain or downstream in this case.

"That hurt." Naruto said sitting up rubbing his head. He saw all three of his siblings brandishing sticks. "What? Is this beat on Naruto day?" he asked sarcastically.

"No its kill Naruto day." Hachiro stated, gritting his teeth in rage.

"In that case you die first since you're the one who was threatening me making me back up in the first place, you're equally at blame" Naruto accused.

WHACK

"Was that supposed to hurt."Hachiro said turning around and began stalking Ken who discarded the broken stick and ran for his life as his brother gave chase.

In the meanwhile Mito turned to Naruto who chuckled nervously, "I don't suppose we can just go back to completing the mission." He offered.

"Like you said. Waste of time." she bluntly responded.

"I might have gotten carried away." Naruto suggested trying to salvage the situation and his fate.

"Doubt it." Mito replied.

The eldest Otsutsuki sighed in resignation. "Worth a shot." Then he grinned savagely. "You'll have to catch me first." He shunshined away with her following suit leaving Yamato with a stream as littered no closer to being cleaned than when they started.

"_Crap!" _

WHACK

"OOOOWWWW!" Yamato cried in pain nursing his own lump while glaring confusedly at a reappeared pissed off Mito. "What…you can read minds too?"

"No...Well yes I can with my Byakugan. But that's not what I did just now." was her blunt reply.

"Then how…."

"You mouthed the words." She activated her Byakugan to get the point across.

"Oh!" he mused over the new information. Their Byakugan really was advanced. "Crap!"

WHACK

Yamato screamed in agony.


	4. Saving the Kazekage

2 1/2 years later

Rage burned fierce and dark in Temari's heart as she leapt from one ledge to the next down the narrow, rocky canyon that the blond Akatsuki named Deidara had fled. She

could see the white clay bird flying ahead and above, bearing the corpse of her brother. After Team Gai had broken open the cave where the Akatsuki had taken Gaara, Temari had been the first one inside, only to see the grinning face of Deidara as he sat on Gaara's unmoving body.

"You're too late, yeah?" Deidara had jeered. "The jinchuuriki's dead. Too bad you came all this way just to fail." Temari hadn't wanted to believe it, but she couldn't deny the evidence of her eyes. Gaara was still, unmoving, cold. Her little brother was dead his corpse being used as a cushion by the blonde bastard.

"Temari, slow down, damn it! He's baiting you!" Temari had taken off after Deidara when he fled, and Kakashi had followed. He had tried unsuccessfully to convince her to wait for the others, but the grieving sister wouldn't be dissuaded from her pursuit.

"I know," Temari growled over her shoulder.

"Do you even have a plan?" Kakashi demanded in frustration.

The canyon widened out a bit, and Temari allowed himself a mad grin. "The very best." She said brandishing her fan. 'Wind Release: Great Task of the Dragon.'

"What's happening?" Deidara thought noticing the clouds gathering in the sky. It was then that he saw the tornado heading his way. "SHIT!" he willed his clay bird to go faster but the twister of death was rapidly catching up. "Well two can play at this game." he quickly changed trajectory moving up in a sweep arc right above the heart of the tornado.

Deidara threw his arms wide and unleashed a cloud of tiny dragonflies formed from more of his white clay. They flew right into the vacuum at the center and imploded the resulting explosion cancelling out the wind currents.

"No way!" Temari gasped in shock at her jutsu being dispelled so easily.

The blonde bomber looked down at them with a crazed expression "And I'm just getting start..UUUGGHHHH!" he screamed as a lightning bolt from the sky struck him and his clay dragon incinerating it sending both him and Gaara's body hurling down into the forest.

"What the hell was that?" both Temari and Kakashi gasped, bewildered.

"That would be me." A seventeen year old Hachiro Otsutsuki said as he levitated into view. He'd grown considerably in the past three years currently towering above his peers at 6'4. He wore a black cloak over a white shirt and pants with a black belt and white bandages wrapped up to his knees on both legs. He'd also bulked up considerably and developed quite a muscular physique.

"The cavalry has arrived." Naruto Otsutsuki said appearing next to him, like his brother he'd also grown and currently stood only an inch shorter at 6'3 though hadn't put on nearly as much muscle instead possessing a much lankier, leaner frame. Unlike his brother he wore a simple white shirt with the Otsutsuki Clan symbol branded at the back and white pants. His arms and legs were wrapped in bandages. "You think he survived that?"

Hachiro ignored him.

Naruto sighed, "What else is new." With that he flew down to join the others. "Naruto Otsutsuki reporting for duty." He said adopting a saluting pose in front of the one eyed Jonin.

"_So this is the kid Lady Tsunade mentioned."_ Kakashi observed the Otsutsuki curiously. _"The one with the same name as Naruto. So he's one of the siblings on Tenzo's team."_

"Naruto!?" Temari was confused. Wasn't he dead. Obviously they were at the funeral. Then who was this guy?

"The one and only." Naruto boasted puffing up his chest for added effect.

"_He certainly acts a bit like him."_ Kakashi thought before finally speaking. "It's nice to finally meet you. That being said we have an S-Rank criminal to apprehend."

Temari immediately broke from her shock on hearing those words.

"Don't worry Hachiro's on it." Naruto said just as Hahiro flew down to their side carrying Gaara's body.

"GAARA!" Temari cried moving to her brother's side. She shook him but got no response.

"Don't bother he's dead." Hachiro coldly stated ignoring Temari's gasp of shock as he activated his Byakugan and began surveying the forest around them.

"You really know how to be subtle don't you?" Naruto reprimanded him sarcastically.

"There's no shame in saying a dead man is dead." Hachiro bluntly replied. "Two females approaching fast." He said as Sakura and Granny Chiyo appeared in the clearing.

"We finally caught up to you." Sakura said pantig heavily, she looked like she'd been through a war heavily bruised and cut all over. The old woman next to her looked even worse for wear.

"You found us." Kakashi addressed his student. "Nice work."

Sakura nodded. "We felt a huge tremor a few moments ago."

"That would be this meathead." Naruto said gesturing to his brother who continued his surveillance.

Sakura looked at him confused. "I'm sorry I don't think we've met before?"

"That's because we haven't." Naruto replied in a matter of fact tone.

Sakura flushed a bit at the pale boy's blunt reply.

"So you guys did it." Kakashi interrupted, this was not the time for introductions.

"Yeah!" Sakura said recovering her bearings.

"It looks like you're still having trouble here though." Chiyo added.

"Unfortunately!"

"And here it comes." Hachiro cut in.

Everybody immediately got on guard as the Mad Bomber Deidera jumped down from the trees right next to his fallen clay bird. Team guy showed up seconds later.

"Be careful everyone he's a long range fighter who uses explosives." Kakashi warned.

The group surrounded the rogue ninja as he tore a chunk out of the clay construct and swallowed it.

Naruto couldn't help recoil in disgust. "Seriously was that necessary."

"I think it's about time I unveiled my ultimate work of art." Deidera smiled cruelly as his body bulged in a rather grotesque manner.

"_He's concentrating all of his chakra into a single point."_ Neji said observing with his Byakugan.

"HE'S GONNA BLOW." Naruto Otsutsuki his own Byakugan active screamed in panic.

Team Guy quickly began retreating back towards the others.

''Katsu!'' the mad bomber exploded in an enormous ball of flames that covered the entire cleaning.

They all backed away with the exception of Kakashi and Hachiro who stood their ground.

"_Damn it! Sakura & Lady Chiyo are too exhausted to move."_ Kakashi thought unmoving from his own position. _"I don't have a choice."_ He channeled chakra to his left eye where his sharingan lay which had begun to spun and evolve. ''Kamu.." However he never got the chance to use his jutsu as the very next moment a powerful pulse of chakra emitted from Hachiro's position dispersing the flames away and driving the force of the explosion in the opposite side of the forest.

"_What just happened?"_ Kakashi was looking wide eyed and unbeknownst to the outside world courtesy of his face mask; slack jawed at the boy who still had his back to him.

As the smoke cleared Naruto's voice boomed out . "NOW THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT."

"What's going on?" Guy staring confusedly at the destruction infront of them. "That explosion was directed at us…how..?"

"I don't get it." Sakura said, this whole situation wasn't making any sense to her. "What did you do?" she questioned the Otsutsuki ninja.

"Hachiro counteracted it with a powerful chakra pulse and directed the shockwave away." Naruto explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"_So that's one of the abilities of their advanced Byakugan."_ Neji thought frowning a bit.

"I am not sure I understand really, but it seems the enemy has been defeated Tenten." Lee turned to his teammate. "Do you agree?"

"What the hell are you asking me for?" Tenten said perplexed at his question. How was she supposed to know?

"More importantly!" Kakashi finally broke out of his stupor. "Is everyone okay?"

"I'll live." Naruto answered.

"That's rich coming from the one who's completely unscathed." Neji snorted gazing at his pseudo clan member with narrowed eyes.

"When did you get here ponytail." Naruto said making Lee and Tenten chuckle a bit at the nickname.

Neji's eyebrow twitched a bit at the insult but he'd gotten used to it in the past 3 years since he'd first met the Otsutsuki siblings. "I could ask you the same question, Naruto."

That got Sakura's attention.

"Wait! What?" she said flabbergasted. Turning to look at the Otsutsuki boy. "Your name is Naruto too?"

Naruto Otsutsuki looked at her puzzled, "What do you mean too? I'm the only Naruto. Naruto Otsutsuki, 'The Greatest of All Time'."

"Doesn't have much to show for it though." Hachiro spoke for the first time.

"Oh you're still alive?" Naruto said not amused at all at the insult. "For a moment of thought you were so quiet because you died of shock. Guess that was too much to hope for."

Hachiro didn't respond growing silent again.

"Are these guys for real?" Sakura thought puzzled at their antics.

"Sakura!"

The pink haired girl was broken from her thoughts by the plea of the sandy blonde.

"Sakura can you…." Temari choked still having trouble absorbing the truth of her brother's demise, the day's events finally catching up with her.

Sakura nodded.

Open Field

The group watched as Sakura tried to resuscitate Gaara's with her medical ninjutsu. After over an hour with no success Sakura finally gave up and shook her head in defeat and sorrow.

"Told you so." Hachiro remarked.

"Hachiro!" Kakashi reprimanded.

"What? It's the truth." The Otsutsuki boy said annoyed at having being made to wait so long for a lost cause.

"Gaara!" Temari choked her legs failing her as she collapsed and break down next to her deceased brother's body. "Why'd it have to end like this for him?"

"Beats me." Naruto said. "Other guy had the higher ground. Maybe." He quickly dodged Hachiro's strike. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You want us to be sued for copyright infringement?" Hachiro snapped at him.

"Oh sorry."

Chiyo looked at Gaara before she nodded to herself approaching him, "It doesn't have to."

"Lady Chiyo?" Temari asked.

"I know what to do for our Kazekage." Chiyo said as her hands started glowing surprising the ninja.

"Lady Chiyo!" Sakura gasped.

"If you use that technique you'll end up…" Temari was halted by the old woman holding her hand out signaling her to be silent.

"I'm well aware of the consequences Temari, you forget I developed the jutsu."

"What's she doing?" Kakashi asked.

Temari answered, "A special type of healing jutsu she invented. She can transfer her own life force into someone who is dead, restoring them to life but at the cost of the users."

Sakura was in shock, "But then she'll die."

"Yeah, she's only used this jutsu on those who've only been close to death therefore she never has transferred all of her life energy." Temari said.

"Well this time I will, this village needs its Kazekage, and besides I have a debt to repay." The elder explained.

"A debt?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, for I was the one ordered by the Yondaime Kazekage to seal the Shukaku inside Gaara, therefore I'm partly to blame for making him the monster he once was. But now it's time I made amends. Gaara I'm sorry." Chiyo brought her hands up to rest on Gaara's chest and her hands began to emit a soft blue light.

"_Boy that old hag's got gumption."_ Naruto thought.

After a while however Chiyo began to tremble and pant and the blue light began to diminish. "Its no good. I don't have enough Chakra left to revive him."

That statement deflated the hopeful looks of the group, Temari taking it the worst.

"_Least she gets points for trying." _Naruto conceded.

"There has to be a way." Lee said his voice full of frustration; they didn't come this far for nothing.

Tenten tried to comfort her teammate, "It can't be helped Lee. Lady Chiyo's too exhausted to carry out the jutsu."

"Gaara!" Temari sobbed in anguish, while Sakura tried to comfort her.

"To see one's youth cut down at such a promising age." Guy sighed closing his eyes. "It's truly tragic."

"_Not to mention at her age her chakra level isn't likely nearly sufficient enough to carry out such a procedure." _Kakashi pondered. _"The only alternative would be….a chakra donor."_

Naruto felt Kakashi's gaze on him. "What?"

"I recall your file stated that you and your siblings possessed chakra far above the norm." Kakashi stated, surprising the others.

"Sounds about right." Naruto replied still not getting the Jonin's point.

"Don't take this the wrong way. But out of all of us you're the only one who hasn't been in any form of combat today which means you're likely to have the most chakra." Kakashi explained.

It finally clicked in the mind of the young Otsutsuki. "No!" he said bluntly.

"You're our best bet right now." Kakashi tried to reason with him.

Naruto pointed towards Hachiro "What about hi…..where did he go?" only to find empty space where his brother had previously stood. "Son of a…"

"Stop wasting time." Kakashi said the boy's behavior was beginning to irritate him. How did Tenzo deal with him he wondered.

"Why don't you guys donate chakra as a group?" Naruto suggested. "That would make it easier for all of you and provide enough chakra."

"We're all battle worn." Kakashi answered. "We don't have the stamina to hold on long enough for the procedure to work, face it you're the only one that qualifies right now."

"Damn!" Naruto cursed at his current situation.

"_What's his deal?"_ everyone thought while looking at him in disbelief. How hard was it to donate a little chakra to save a life?

Naruto rubbed his temples in frustration before sighing in defeat. "Fine! So what do I gotta do?"

Kakashi relaxed relieved that the boy saw reason. "By my calculations if you simply make hand contact and…."

"OH HELL NO!" Naruto snapped backing up a few steps. "No way am I holding hands with that old crone."

"_Seriously!"_ were everyone's collective thought.

"And I ain't gonna budge this time." He said folding his arms and looking away.

"You imbicile." Sakura began to move menacingly towards him but was halted in her tracks by Kakashi.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be the hands." Kakashi said hoping to convince him.

"I ain't touching her sagged, wrinkly chest either." Naruto deadpanned.

The guys could only look at him slack jawed, the girls on the other hand.

Kakashi let go of Sakura who began cracking her knuckles and resumed moving towards her target.

Temari was brandishing her fan a look of outrage on her tear stained face.

Tenten had unfurled her scroll ready to hack the bastard to bits.

This time Neji was the one who got in their way.

"What gives Neji? Move aside." Tenten yelled at her teammate. However the look of foreboding on Neji's face silenced her. In spite of the frown on his face she could see the fear in his eyes, it unnerved her.

"Everyone stand down." He ordered. The kunoichi would have complained but the seriousness their comrade was exhibiting, extreme broodiness even by his standards, left them speechless.

"He's only baiting you." Neji said. "Let me handle this." He said turning to Naruto. "I don't suppose you could transfer chakra to her by touching her back?"

Naruto looked at him sharply. "Do I have to?" he said unhappily, though Neji could see the hint of amusement in them.

Neji sighed, he hated playing these games. "It's the only way."

"Well since you're asking so nicely." Naruto shrugged cheerfully. "Why not." He said walking over to the old woman, placing his hand on her back he began channeling his life force through her a blue glow enveloping not only her hands but her entire being.

"_Woah!"_ the Konoha ninja and Temari could only look on in awe. The chakra pulses got brighter until the last one, brilliant as the sun, forced the Leaf ninja to look away. When the light faded, Chiyo's eyes slid shut, and she slumped to the grass beside the jinchuuriki she had created, dead before she fell.

For a moment everything was still, and then Gaara shuddered and coughed, the tan leather armor covering his torso moving as he drew breath once more. His black-ringed teal eyes opened slowly. The Kazekage sat up, blinking as he took in the lifeless elder sprawled on the grass beside him and the assembled Konoha shinobi and his sister staring at him in astonishment.

"What… what happened?" Gaara asked, looking up at a pale faced individual he didn't recall ever meeting before.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's complicated." His senses picked up several chakra signatures approaching. "Oh your village is here. Looks like my work here is done. Toodles." He said before flying off.

Slowly Gaara looked around as he found himself surrounded by an army of shinobi from his village, his eyes settled on his sister.

"Temari…this…?"

"They came to save you." Temari said raising her head, "We all came running to your rescue."

"You put us through a lot!" Kankuro said.

Kankuro swaggered over them. He walked with a slight limp but he was grinning the entire time. Temari smiled for she could feel the undeniable relief and happiness radiating off of him. Everyone's relief was making her want to just jump to her feet and start singing with praise for Chiyo.

"For sure! You're the kid brother I always have to worry about, eh?" Kankuro teased.

"Hey, don't get all complacent! Gaara's still Kazekage! Don't be cheeky!" Temari scolded as she walked over to them, "Underlings!"

She then smiled down at Gaara, kindly. She and Kankuro just oozed relief.

"Gaara how are you feeling?" Temari asked.

"Temari!" Gaara said struggling to move. "Who…who was that?" he asked.

Temari looked a bit unsure of how to reply to his question. Finally siging deeply she answered. "His name's Naruto, Naruto Otsutsuki."

Meanwhile back in the Akatsuki lair, the cave's roof was blasted opened and the cave was in shambles. Zetsu was looking over what appeared to be a puppet body of a red haired young man, "So this is Sasori's true form." He pondered.

"Hey! Hey! Over here Mr. Zetsu! I found it!" a jovially voice called out.

Zetsu looked over and a man with short dark haired man, wearing an orange spiral styled mask with an eyehole on the right side, and was decked out in black. He was sitting down while looking at Sasori's ring which he removed from another puppet.

"Maybe now I can become a member of the Akatsuki huh? After all there's an open spot now right?" the figure asked while flipping the ring into the air.

"Baka. You think it's that easy." Black Zetsu grumbled.

"Oh give him a break," White Zetsu began, "After all Tobi is a good boy."

The guy identified as Tobi accidentally dropped the ring into the pile of rocks, "Oh no!" he tried to reach in for it.

"We're going now." Zetsu said as he started walking.

"Wait, wait a minute Mr. Zetsu, please!" Tobi was reaching through the rocks, "It's right here, somewhere. I'm sure I can get it," he noticed Zetsu still walking off, "No wait! Mr. Zetsu please don't leave!"

Elsewhere Deidara burst up from the ground looking like a total mess, "Dammit! If I hadn't swapped with that exploding clone before that lightning hit me I would've been totaled. And now I gotta find my damn arms." He staggered to his feet. "Damn that bastard…my body's still numb from that bolt." He cursed as he collapsed to his knees. "And on top of that he countered my clone's explosion effortlessly; I need to warn the others."


	5. The Land of Demons Arc Part 1

The Land of Demons Arc Part 1

"Another day goes by," Naruto Otsutsuki sighed as he rested on a cloud in the sky. After the Kazekage's rescue Naruto had been temporarily suspended for being 'difficult' as Cow Tits put it. Ever since then he'd been killing time here at least whenever he wasn't off training in some deserted wasteland where no one with the exception of his siblings could find him. "With nothing to show for it."

In the three years since him and his siblings had arrived on this planet things had quickly become….boring. Sure, in the beginning they had to face many challenges such acclimating to their new surroundings and way of life. However, they soon discovered that the Shinobi lifestyle wasn't so different from their own clan's barbaric ways back home, in short, they were already well equipped for it. To be honest they found socializing with the masses to be a harder task than decapitating someone on the battlefield.

To be fair they had learned much since their arrival, strange techniques called 'jutsu' these individuals used to perform feats quite similar to what they had back in their dimension only the Otutsuki clan didn't require hand signs for most of their skills. Nonetheless learning the different modes and variety of fighting styles these shinobi employed and modifying them to their preference and strengths had proven quite beneficial and helped them grow tremendously.

"The raw power, skill & potential of the Otsutsuki." Naruto pondered talking to himself. "Coupled with the cunning and resourcefulness of a shinobi and you have a force not to be reckoned with." He stated to no one in particular.

His expression then became grim, "The downside?" he grumbled to himself.

The downside was that they had grown too fast and too strong even by Otsutsuki standards. According to Ken's analysis each of them was at least as strong as a Mid-Ranked Main Branch Otsutsuki member, and they hadn't even hit their primes yet.

"Always knew we had it in us." Naruto snickered bitterly.

Unfortunately, that meant that not many people on this backwater planet could offer them much of a challenge. Without anyone to test or measure themselves against, no drawback to provide incentive to get better nor any obstacle to overcome, any further growth would be stunted which was of course unacceptable.

"_Wonder if it's time to kiss this shithole goodbye and head for greener pastures."_ Naruto thought.

"NARUTO!"

"Speaking of which." Naruto said as he sat up to greet his sister who flew over to him.

Mito had grown into quite a beauty with her pale skin and delicate features provide a good contrast to one another. She stood tall at a height of 5'10 with an athletic yet curvaceous build. She had grown her white hair down to waist-length in a hime-style cut tied in a high ponytail with short bangs and chin-length strands framing her face. The leaf's headband adorned her forehead along with which she wore a white colored tight form-fitting kunoichi uniform with shoulder-guards, black gloves, and an opening in her shirt which revealed some of her sizeable cleavage.

"Look at you." Naruto snickered. "All dressed up like a tart." He immediately moved his head to the side in order to avoid her chakra whip. "Too slow."

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." Mito growled as her whip dematerialized. "Lady Hokage has a mission for us."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Whose daughter got kidnapped this time."

Mito shook her head, "No it's not that."

"We gotta assassinate some low ranking noble again?" he inquired.

"You're half right." She replied.

"Lousy old cow has been treating us as a bunch of hired guns." Naruto snarled miserably.

"Acually you've been assigned bodyguard duty." Mito explained.

Naruto looked at her as if she had grown another face. "Say what now."

* * *

Hokage Office

"Seriously you expect me to work with these losers?" Naruto complained to Tsunade ignoring the frowns he received from the insulted.

Tsunade slammed her fist on her desk leaving a small depression in it. "Otsutsuki how many times have I warned you not to insult my subordinates." She reprimanded him.

Naruto wasn't impressed, "About the same number of times I've asked you to address me by my first name." Naruto said enjoying seeing her flinch at his words.

"_Lady Tsunade."_ Shizune thought worriedly seeing her leader deflate visibly and drop back into her seat rubbing her temples.

"Now what's with this escort business?" Naruto demanded not caring about her disposition. "Why aren't you sending me out to the front lines?"

"Hachiro & Mito have already been deployed to the frontlines." Tsunade stated. "Ken on the other hand is staying back in the village in case of a surprise invasion. That leaves you as extra security for this VIP."

"Sounds like a waste of my talents if you ask me." Naruto snorted not liking it one bit.

"Well suck it up." Tsunade replied with a tone of finality.

"I still think it's a bad idea." Naruto reiterated.

Sakura had had enough, "QUIT YOUR COMPLAINING AND LET HER TALK YOU IDIOT." She yelled swinging her fist threateningly at him.

Naruto paid her no heed.

"_God he's unbearable."_ Tsunade thought trying to hold in her anger. "As I was saying the enemy has been moving for several days now and leaving a steady trail of destruction in its wake. We know that this ghost army is based on some puppet master jutsu ."

Sakura came forward, "You mean that they're like dolls being manipulated by somebody right?"

"Correct." Tsunade nodded.

"So, we just take out the guy who's pulling the strings." Naruto clapped his hands for added effect. "And mission accomplished."

Tsunade frowned "If it were only that easy. The thing is the one that's been pulling the strings isn't human. His name's Moryo and he's a very powerful demon."

"Great complicate it further." Naruto sighed.

Tsuande continued, "There was once a shinobi that tried to conquer this entire land. He used Moryo's power to raise an invulnerable army. The Demon's horde descended on one country after another devastating everything in its path bringing those lands to the brink of destruction. That army is the very same one we find threatening us now."

She paused to let the story sink in before resuming once more unfurling a scroll and showing them a map. "Back then a priestess from the Land of Ogres named Miroko used a powerful kinjutsu to seal away Moryo's soul into the Land of Ogres' underground palace and his physical body in a shrine in the Land of Swamps thus averting the disaster. Now that he's resurrected once more the demon has retaken command over his Ghost Army and is making his way to the sealing shrine. If Moryo's body and soul become one and his resurrection is completed the situation will be irreparable."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Naruto asked not all that impressed by the story. He'd seen, heard and done much worse back in his home dimension.

Tsunade scowled at the boy's ignorance. He was taking the situation far too lightly. "The world will be destroyed." She deadpanned only for him to chuckle in amusement.

"Man, this is such a cliché." Naruto couldn't help but giggle.

Neji narrowed his eyes at the Otsutsuki's antics, _"Fighting ability aside I don't understand why Lord Hiashi would let this nuisance into the clan even as a ward."_

"_How unyouthful."_ Lee thought a worried look on his face.

Sakura simply looked away in disgust.

Tsunade sighed, "The priestess from the Land of Ogres must be taken to the temple where the body is sealed and seal Moryo's soul away again. The fate of the world depends on it."

* * *

Konoha Gates

The group was currently gathered at the gates with their supplies packed ready to depart for their mission. Neji was going over the mission objectives with his team.

"Now listen are mission is to ensure this woman's survival." He addressed the female member of their team. "Sakura you're to stay with our charge at all times. Understood?"

"Got it!" Sakura replied in the affirmative.

Neji nodded. "If anything were to happen to her we will be in need of your expertise." He moved to Lee. "Lee your role is to fend off the enemy."

"Roger that." Lee said excitedly.

"We don't know what we're up against yet so your Taijutsu will be the best defensive option since it doesn't depend on chakra."

"Leave it to me than. I will protect you with sheer will." Lee boasted.

Then let's get going." Neji said and began walking out of the village that is until a voice from behind halted him in his steps.

"Excuse me! But aren't you forgetting something?" Neji looked back his pupilless eyes meeting the very pissed ones of Naruto Otsutsuki. "It not nice to leave someone out, you know."

"That's right I almost forgot." Neji turned back. "You'll run defense the same as Lee."

Naruto seemed to contemplate on that before nodding. "I can do that."

Sakura and Lee let out a breath of relief.

"Good! Then let's be off." Neji stated thankful for no further arguments. _"He maybe strong but his sense of teamwork his nonexistent."_

* * *

Hokage's Office

"You think they'll be alright out there?" Shizune asked a worried look on her face.

"Neji is exceptional at intelligence gathering thanks to his Byakugan." Tsunade replied going through the paperwork. "Plus, he's a Jonin, he's got good judgment and his defensive skills are excellent. He's perfect for guarding our VIP."

"It's not Neji, Lee or Sakura that I'm worried about." Shizune said than seemed to reconsider. "Forget that, I am really worried for them."

Tsunade sunk back into her chair, "Otsutsuki huh?"

Shizune nodded. "He and Hachiro are not exactly team players as you well know. The only team missions they've done are one's under Yamato with their other siblings Mito & Ken. Aside from those they've always worked solo with Yamato occasionally tagging along with either to supervise them. You know unlike Mito & Ken those two haven't exactly warmed up to this place as is evident by their borderline hostile and dismissive behavior towards everyone. Now putting Naruto along with people he's hardly ever interacted with the exception of perhaps Neji and keeping in mind his mission track record and the way he completes them; I personally believe it's a bad move on your part."

"You believe that Naruto will see the others as collateral damage and won't bother with their well-being as long as he completes the mission and looks good doing it?" Tsunade gazed into her apprentice's eyes.

"His attitude certainly points that way." Shizune frowned.

"Be that as it may at this point in time his and his siblings' power is critical for the protection of this village and…." She swallowed a bit her hair shadowing her eyes, "…and in the absence of the Kyuubi needed to maintain the balance of power with the other nations."

"But is it worth the cost." Shizune asked clutching Tonton to her chest.

"It's the lesser of the two evils." Tsunade confessed staring out at the village. "We can only hope at this point. Those Otsutsuki kids are strong; we need that now especially for this mission."

* * *

Land of Demons

The sun was barely on the horizon bathing the large castle in its light, yet everywhere you looked, you could see countless guards and soldiers running about, running drills and moving all of their best shooters into position.

With news of the Ghost Army under Moryu marching from their land in the direction of the Land of Swamps, the commanders of the forces knew that a great calamity was about to befall upon them. Therefore, mustering up all men fit and able to battle, the soldiers rallied to the gates and walls, coming to the protection of their priestess and leader without thought or hesitation.

"Susuki," a spectacles wearing archer who answered to the name Taruho and was one of the leading commanders of the castle addressed his underling who was standing guard near the priestess' quarters, gaze narrowing when he saw the man sway on the spot, "Susuki!" His sudden rise in volume eventually jerked the trooper out of his drowsy state. "Shift's over."

"I… I could keep going. Would that be okay?" the man insisted shaking his head to clear his mind.

Taruho was having none of it. "You haven't slept in three days. Go get some rest, that's an order." He said firmly leaving no room for argument.

Susuki seemed to hesitate but his exhaustion caught up with him forcing him to acquiesce to his friend's request. "Alright! I'll leave things here to you." He bowed respectfully before heading back down to the barracks. Taruho watched him leave as the sun rose over the horizon its light spreading over the land.

Elsewhere

Four men currently stood on a ridge overlooking the castle below. The men were dressed in white battle robes and garb, with similar trigram markings emblazoned upon each of them.

"Come on, brother! Let's get this show on the road," the man with the face mask beseeched their pink haired leader.

"All in good time." The leader manically replied just as three black snakes like parasites emerged from his body and shot towards his compatriots burrowing into their necks. A surge of purple chakra suddenly shot through each of them, their pupils dilating till their eyes were nothing but voids as their bodies underwent frightening metamorphoses'.

"Oh yes… that's the stuff!" the masked member exclaimed their transformations now complete, each standing as a more bestial version of his previous self.

Their leader stepped forward, "You've all got the chakra strains as promised."

"Now let's get down there and get busy." The masked member spoke again raising his huge fist in anticipation eager to sake his bloodlust and test out his new power.

"Don't screw up." The leader warned not wanting them to get carried away with their new abilities and lose sight of their objective. The four of them leapt over the edge of the cliff and made towards the castle at an accelerated pace.

In the Palace

"_What is this?"_ Shion sat up in her futon breathless after another particularly disturbing and taxing vision. She had been having the same recurring vision unlike any she had had before with increasing frequency for the past several days and it was beginning to take its toll on her health. In her sleep deprived state, she was oblivious to the commotion outside her chambers.

Outside all hell had broken loose as a shower of shuriken fell upon the palace security killing several of them instantly, followed by the appearance of four monstrous looking individuals who then began cutting through the rest of the forces. The remaining guards along with Taruho were rushing towards their leader's quarters in order to secure her safety.

"Hurry! Add more guards around Lady Shion's chambers now." One of them ordered.

"SUSUKI!" Taruho yelled when he saw his friend appear at his side. "No, you mustn't go." He ordered him.

This time however his friend refused to heed his request, "I know what Lady Shion has foretold Taruho." He said as their comrades fell around them the stench of blood, flames and decay from the littered bodies and burnt courtyard permeated the air. Susuki had a look of determination on his face, "So what of it?" he said without hesitation. "Giving my life to save hers is an honor." He declared as they reached the doors of Lady Shion's room.

"We're entering, my lady!" the voice of her Captain of the Guard Taruho reached Shion, followed shortly by her doors flying open as a contingent of guards, the glasses-wearing head of security rushed into her room alongside his friend Susuki. "Lady Shion! We have intruders! We have to flee!" the very next moment the ceiling collapsed crushing the majority of them beneath the rubble leaving only Taruho & Susuki with horrified looks on their faces.

They barely had time to regain their bearings when a masked man with enormous hands emerged from the smoke dashing towards them catching Susuki completely off-guard sending him flying across the room and crashing into the blinds around Shion's futon, leaving her exposed and vulnerable to her assailants.

"So, there you are." The masked freak giggled easily blocking each of Taruho's strikes with his rock-hard fists before promptly backhanding him away like he was nothing. He laughed madly as he was joined shortly by the rest of his team.

"Look at her a sitting duck." The orange haired member exclaimed gleefully as they hurled their weapons at the priestess.

"LADY SHION!" a still recovering Taruho cried in horror as he saw the weapons converge on the priestess only to be intercepted by Susuki at the very last minute who ended impaled by the various kunai and blades. The weapons sunk deep into his body rupturing his internal organs making him cough blood. "Taruho…take…care…of…Lady…Shion." He managed to utter before breathing his last and collapsing dead into the blood-soaked sheets in front of the priestess who simply gazed emotionlessly at his body.

"SUSUKI!" Taruho cried in anguish seeing his friend die, he struggled to his feet grabbing his sword and staggered between Shion and her would be assassins.

Not intimidated in the least the four began backing him to move in for the kill. "Pretty little priestess. Your life is ours now."

"Now hold it right there."

"WHAT THE HELL!?" the four immediately jumped back at the appearance of a pale skinned newcomer in what they could have sworn had been empty space….just now. They hadn't even blinked.

"Wha… Where the heck did, he come from?" the masked maniac asked, narrowing his eyes on the stranger dressed in white.

"Why didn't he sneak up on us." His orange haired companion voiced his own thoughts still a bit disoriented at being jumped like that. "Is he as strong as us?" his voice holding a hint of fear in it.

"Could be! Or maybe he's just an idiot." The blue haired one exclaimed having gotten over his own initial shock.

"Hey!" Naruto protested. "Just for that I'm gonna whup you first." he pointed accusingly at the guy who had insulted him.

The pink haired leader snorted not impressed in the least, "Either way you look at it he isn't normal." He said grinning at the displeased look on Naruto's face. "I put my money on idiot though."

"Oh, you dead brother! You dead!" Naruto chanted getting ready for battle while noticing that 'Four Eyes' had escaped with a priestess via a secret door in the wall. "This is as far as you go." He stated getting into a fighting stance.

The four couldn't help but chuckle madly at the boy's ridiculous proclamation. The one with the mask covering his lower face finally spoke. "Are you kidding? You don't really think you can stop us all by yourself, do you?" he looked at Naruto questioningly.

"Try me." Naruto challenged motioning them to come at him. The next moment the four leapt at him.

* * *

An explosion unexpectedly ripped through the entire front part of the castle, the blast tearing through the structure, the entire forward section of Shion's palace began to collapse in on itself, while the Gang of Four that had been caught inside of the blast were sent flying out and crashing into the destroyed courtyard where they lay motionless for over a minute.

"What the hell just happened?" Orange head said struggling to his feet only to collapse to the ground when his wobbly legs failed him.

"I don't know." Blue head replied unable to feel any of his limbs, the fall had been particularly bad for him.

"I could have sworn we were about to skewer him." The masked man exclaimed using his large hands as support to sit upright.

"That's the last thing I remember." The pink haired leader muttered trying to clear his head. He recalled that his blade had been an inch away from piercing the boy's face when….were his eyes playing tricks on him…the veins bulged around the brat's eyes. The next thing he knew he got hit by what felt like a wrecking ball and woke up in his present disposition.

"YOU GUYS THROUGH ALREADY?" the startled group jerked their heads up to see Naruto standing on top of one of the remaining buildings a disappointed look on his face. "NOW COME ON! DON'T DIE ON ME ALREADY. THE PARTY'S JUST BEGAN." He taunted at them as he jumped down a few meters from their positions.

The four growled as they struggled back and got into their own stances having had enough of the brat's impudence.

The pink head spoke first, "Gitai, Setsuna, Shizuku! Bust this kid with an earth, fire and wind combo." He ordered as he switched places with the masked man.

"With pleasure." Gitai yelled with glee smashing his fists together before slamming them into the ground. "EARTH STYLE: EARTH CORRIDOR!"

"Whats this?" Naruto said as the ground beneath him began to crack open before splitting with the earth beginning to rise up and converge around and over him blocking the sunlight. "Oh so that's their game." He chuckled at the pointlessness of their effort and simply flew right out the sealing cavern before it closed. On escaping he saw a ring of fire hurling towards him followed by a gale of wind which enhanced the fire into a blazing inferno preparing to engulf him in its red hot flames.

"Tsk Amateurs." Naruto snorted dismissively unimpressed by the display and with a simple wave of his arm generated a powerful counter air current spontaneously dispersing the flames

The four gaped up at him in disbelief unable to believe what they were seeing.

"That's impossible!" Setsuna gasped backing away in fear.

"What…what is this guy?" Shizuku was openly trembling, they hadn't signed up for this.

"What are you cowards doing?" Kusuna angrily berated his subordinates. "We have a mission to complete remember."

"Yeah but how do we get past this guy?" Gitai barked beyond annoyed at the failure of his jutsu.

Kusuna growled in frustration not all amused at how the tables had turned against them. They had had the priestess at their mercy, the one obstacle in Lord Moryo's arrival ready to be removed, their mission had been on the verge of completion and then this upstart showed up and ruined everything. Well two can play at that game or in this case four. "Get ready to perform the Mysterious Storm Technique!" he ordered and was annoyed when his command was met with troubled and embarrassed looks from his team. "WHAT now?" He barked at them his patience running thin.

Shizuku finally mustered the will to answer, "I'm sorry boss but we used a majority of our chakra in that combo. We don't much left." He said as each of them looked away in embarrassment unable to meet their leader's eyes.

"Damn it!" Kusuna cursed it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what that meant. They had no chance of winning. He looked up hatefully into the mocking pupilless eyes of the pale skinned brat. The cold unhinged look in those eyes had him sweating in fear within seconds. He immediately lowered his gaze. Loath as he was to admit it, they were outclassed.

The boy in question was simply gazing down at them impatiently eagerly awaiting their next move so he could humiliate them some more. "YOU GUYS DOEN YET. COME ON PEOPLE LETS DANCE." he yelled down at them.

"Screw this. Fall back! Retreat!" Kusuna spat at his comrades.

"R..right!" the other three replied nervously as they jumped on to the opposite building and ran off in to the horizon.

Naruto watched them leave not bothering to give chase; he didn't deem them worth the effort. Seriously he was going to give Tsunade a piece of his mind the next time she handed him an errand like this. "Waste of time." He spat in disgust activating his Byakugan and headed over to the Priestess and 'Four Eyes' location.

He flew over to the back of the castle assuming that's where their escape exit led to and found what looked like a private garden of some sorts under the edge of a huge cliff with a small pool in it being fed by a waterfall. At that moment Four Eyes appeared from the main gate carrying the priestess on his back while at the same time anxiously looking around to make sure they were safe.

"Bingo!" Naruto yelled and flew down right in front of the duo. Taruho jerked upright in surprise halting in his steps on seeing the white-haired boy from earlier jump down before him.

Seeing Four Eyes reach for his blade Naruto immediately raised his arms to defuse the tension, "Easy there four eyes. I'm here to help."

Taruho narrowed his eyes not convinced in the slightest, "And why should I believe you?" he asked his hand hovering over his blade.

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, _"Here we go again."_ He looked back at Four Eyes the priestess clad protectively on his back, looking at him cautiously ready to attack at the slightest hint of danger. Naruto finally replied, "Because if I wanted to kill you, you would be long dead by now." He explained holding up Taruho's sword in his right hand and gesturing to Shion now sitting beside him with his left, both having magically appeared at his side quicker than a blink of an eye.

"W…what!" Shion blinked in confusion the first emotion she'd shown since she woke up.

Taruho was equally flabbergasted. _"When did….how did he….."_ however his astonishment was overcome with concern for his leader. 'LADY SHION!" he sprinted towards them determined to save the priestess from this new threat even at the cost of his life.

"Easy there four eyes." Naruto said dropping the sword and raising his hands in a placating gesture and that seemed to make Four Eyes pause in his steps. "I'm from Konoha sent by Lady Hokage as part of a protection unit to bodyguard the priestess." His hand moved to his pocket.

Taruho stiffened.

"Relax I'm just taking out my head band." Naruto assured him before taking out the forehead protector and showing it to the guard. The sight of the leaf symbol carved into the metal plate seemed to placate Taruho who visibly relaxed but immediately went on high alert again on hearing footsteps behind them.

"Easy there it's just the rest of my team." Naruto dispelled his worries as Neji, Lee & Sakura landed next to them.

* * *

Back at the destroyed Castle

Naruto, Sakura, Neji & Lee were seated in the main hall at the foot of the stairs leading up to Shion's throne, they watched as Taruho gave a low bow and the veil curtain concealing the seat from view was raised. When it finally lifted, it revealed the Priestess beautifully dressed, complete with crown and shrine maiden like robes of a unique design, kneeling at the top of the platform with her eyes closed.

"Behold! Shion, Priestess of the Land of Ogres." Taruho announced eyes closed and head bowed in reverence.

The group took that as queue to introduce themselves, Neji spoke first, "I am Neji Hyuga my Lady, Captain of the Leaf's Team 7."

"I am Rock Lee." Lee saluted.

"Sakura Haruno!" Sakura said a bright smile on her face.

"Pleasure to meet you! The name's Naruto Otsutsuki! Greatest of All Time! Fastest Man on the Planet! I'm the Champ! I'm so fast I…." he stopped mid-sentence having to move away from Sakura's incoming fist. "What gives?" he spat at her.

"CUT IT OUT!" she yelled back annoyed with his antics.

"Why should I listen to you! IBTC queen." He mocked and immediately moved away as her fist destroyed the wall behind him.

Sakura was furious, it took Lee everything he had to prevent her from grinding the Otsutsuki to dust. "LET GO LEE! LET ME AT HIM."

Neji sighed in frustration at their display regardless he shifted his attention back to the task at hand, "We came to escort Lady Shion to the sealing shrine." He told them.

Taruho nodded, he had figured as much, "A lot of lives were lost last night." He grew a bit pensive, "And just as Lady Shion foretold Susuki was among them."

"Naturally…"

That got their attention.

"She can talk?" Naruto said his voice full of wonder.

Ignoring his idiocy Shion continued, "But as you can see, I still breathe. I'm sure they shoulder no regret."

The Konoha shinobi's eyes widened in shock at her words, surprised she could speak so coldly about all the people that had laid down their lives for her sake.

"Man, that's cold." Naruto commented. "We got an Ice Princess here fellas." Then reconsidering his words. "Forget that I got something better. Ice Priestess! Yeah that fits perfectly. Ice Priestess! IP! IP Man! Yeah that's more like that. I'm gonna call you IP Man!" he pointed at Shion.

Shion eye brow twitched at his comment but nonetheless she maintained her composure.

"_Oh brother!"_ Sakura grimaced embarrassed to the point that she wished she could just disappear under some rock rather than face this humiliation due to her teammate's behavior.

"I'm not sure if you should use that name in such a manner Naruto." Lee protested not liking how the name of such a legendary figure, the teacher of both his and Guy Sensei's inspiration the Great Bruce Lee was being desecrated by the Otsutsuki.

"Course it is." Naruto replied not willing to retract his statement.

In the midst of their argument none of them noticed Shion visibly stiffen as another one of her visions assaulted her. It wasn't until she said her next words that anyone listened. "You're all going to die." she said in a soft whisper.

The Konoha group paused and gazed back at her.

"Excuse me did you say something?" Naruto asked raising a brow. "Cause I could have sworn that you said that we were going to die."

"You heard correct, all of you will perish." She restated her face blank eyes and voice devoid of emotion.

Naruto's eyes darkened and the temperature in the room seemed to go down. The others were immediately on guard, Neji and Taruho in particular but due to completely different reasons.

"That's a bold statement." Naruto said in a low voice a deep scowl on his face. "I can understand these pansies kicking the bucket." He ignored the looks of outrage on Lee and Sakura's face as well as the spike in their chakras. "However, you should think twice before going around talking shit about me."

Shion wasn't impressed or intimidated by his threatening demeanor, "It doesn't matter what you feel, think, say or do. Your fates have already been decided. My visions have never been wrong. None of you will survive the upcoming battle."

Naruto's fists clenched in rage his pupilless eyes thinned into slits his aura becoming more sinister by the minute, "Big words coming from someone who can't even save herself."

"_Lady Shion!"_ the shinobi's behavior had Taruho on edge his hand reaching for his sword again. However, a pressure of killing intent assailed him making him freeze in terror.

"You don't want to do that." Naruto warned gazing slightly back.

"That's enough Naruto stand down." Neji barked at the Otsutsuki though not with as much strength as he would have liked with the killing intent weighing him down. To his surprise however Naruto relaxed and the pressure lifted.

The Otsutsuki gazed intently at Shion's defiant if pained face noting the trail of tears from being on the receiving end of his rage. Her resistance was admirable he had to admit she held up pretty well. "If you even dream about me being beaten, you better wake up and apologize." With those words the young Otsutsuki left the room.

Seeing him leave the room Shion finally collapsed throwing up as the others rushed to her aid.

* * *

"Stupid IP Man!" Naruto grumbled as he shadowboxed in a cornet between two buildings moving from side to side punching from different angles. His meeting with the priestess had left him in a foul mood and he wanted nothing more than to bash someone's face in. he could hear Taruho addressing his men asking which one's were willing to lay down their lives in accompanying their priestess in her journey top the shrine.

"Like pigs to the slaughter." He spat in disgust, it baffled him honestly how someone could just throw something as precious as their own life away for someone else. Such an act was unheard of back in his home dimension. Yet here he'd seen it happen with his own eyes several times on numerous missions and each time it left him speechless. It truly was a foreign concept to him.

His inner musings were interrupted by the arrival of Taruho. _"Must have finished his little speech."_ Naruto thought as the Security Head came to stand next to him.

Taruho bowed his head making Naruto quirk a brow at the action, "I hope you will forgive her, Naruto-san," the glasses-wearing officer spoke. "Lady Shion often sees visions of other people's deaths."

"I'm assuming she has a hundred percent accurate prediction rate." Naruto said flatly.

Taruho stiffened a bit caught off-guard by how calmly the boy had made the deduction, "That is correct." He replied a trifle hesitatingly.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing lasts forever I guess."

Taruho looked at him surprise etched across his face, "You're taking this extremely well." He honestly didn't expect this considering how the pale skinned boy had reacted earlier.

"You gotta be wrong sometimes." Naruto said. "I mean what chance do her visions have when pitted against my Super Awesome Epic Greatness." Naruto boasted puffing up his chest to get the point across.

"_So that's what he meant."_ Taruho smiled sadly at his bravado, "I admire your courage Naruto-san but death is inevitable even someone with as strong a spirit such as yourself can't escape it." He explained.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Fine don't believe me then. But don't say I didn't tell you so when I prove you and IP Man in there wrong." He said walking away dismally leaving a slightly amused if sad Taruho behind.

* * *

Following the priestess through the hallways of her castle the group eventually made it down to ground level. However, instead of heading towards the front of the castle where the courtyards were, the blonde-haired priestess led them toward the back. They made their way past the gates to the yard only to realize then that they were out near the waterfall again.

"Man, I'm getting a severe case of déjà vu here." Naruto exclaimed on seeing the familiar setting.

"This waterfall is where I purify myself," Shion informed, eyes still closed as she moved forward, "It also hides an escape route."

"Are you sure you wish to leave without Taruho?" Neji inquired not sure if it was wise to leave the man behind given how protective he was of the priestess.

"I am the priestess of this land." Shion simply replied as if it explained everything. "If I want to leave my attendants behind I will."

"She's a real piece of work." Naruto said in awe of the girl's behavior.

"_You're one to talk." _Sakura rolled her eyes at him though he didn't notice.

They were soon sailing through a forest, in order to stay hidden from the enemy, however they were forced to move much slower than their usual pace due to the fact that they had a passenger onboard.

Deciding to break the silence Naruto asked a question, "So what's this Moryo like?" he spoke to Shion who was being carried by Sakura.

Shion seemed to be annoyed by the question, "How am I supposed to know." She barked at him.

"Easy there." Naruto said defensively. "It was just a question, SHEESH!"

"Well it was a ridiculous one." She spat her voice full of venom while grunting in annoyance. "You're backs too uncomfortable; you should try to keep your body more feminine." She commented to Sakura making the girl holding her explode in rage.

"BURN!" Naruto said and burst into a fit of laughter while jumping from one branch to the next. "YEAH GIVE IT TO THAT CROSS-DRESSING DUDE." He yelled at the girls ignoring Neji's warning not to draw attention. "Girl you just got two plus points in my book."

While this was going on a flash of metal caught Naruto's eye and he immediately grabbed the arrow mid jump. Sensing this and wanting to avoid an ambush the ninja dived down to the forest floor. On landing they were on guard but relaxed when they saw Taruho emerge from the canopy wielding his bow.

"What gives?" Naruto yelled at the boy. "Couldn't find a better way to get our attention?"

Shion looked even more infuriated, ""What are you doing here?!" she yelled swinging her fist his way.

"No matter where you go it is always my duty to watch over you Lady Shion." The young man replied unwavering even in the face of Shion's unbridled rage.

"You're nothing but a burden to me." She snarled. "Now go back to the village."

"I will not." Taruho said blank but defiantly.

"Go home!" she said throwing a tantrum.

"I will not." He reiterated.

"Go! Back! Home!" she cried.

"I will not." He didn't budge.

"Go! I mean it!" she closed her eyes in frustration, losing patience.

"I will not." He stood his ground.

"Leave!"

"I will not."

The others sweat dropped at the spectacle before them.

"Seriously! Those two are bickering like an old married couple." Naruto commented.

"HUH! WHAT WAS THAT?" Shion screamed enraged apparently having heard him.

"_OH BOY!"_

* * *

Night had fallen and the gang had called it a day and was setting camp for the night in the forest by a cliff overlooking the entire region. Naruto had initially questioned this proposal but had agreed when seeing the state of their 'baggage' as he liked to refer to them. Naruto & Neji had their Byakugan's activated scouting for any disturbances nearby or approaching enemies.

"The coast is clear." Neji said and Naruto nodded as they headed back to the others.

"I told you I'm fine." Shion protested, she and Taruho were sitting by a pool with the boy washing feet with expert care.

"Lady Shion,"Taruho raised his head to look at her, ""The sealing jutsu is very taxing. You need to make sure you get enough rest tonight." He advised trying to get her to calm down.

Shion growled impatiently then looked away, "I'm hungry. Make me some food!" she ordered.

Naruto narrowed his eyes not liking her attitude ignoring the fact that his own behavior was far more condemnable at times, "Man this girl is way too picky for her own good."

Nonetheless with the assistance of Taruho they began to prepare a meal for their charge from the supplies they had, avoiding lighting a camp fire as that would attract unwanted attention to them which they wanted to avoid at all costs.

However, when they presented the food to 'Her Holiness' she frowned in distaste and chucked the food to the floor much to their horror, "This soup is cold and I can't eat these or that." She complained.

Both Lee and Sakura gazed longingly at the wasted food.

"What a waste of such a youthful meal." Lee sobbed.

"I would have eaten both of those." Sakura sighed in regret.

"**Bitch!"**

Team 7 along with their clients looked back to find Naruto with his eyes shadowed by his hair, his body shaking with barely contained fury, a glowing white aura covering him. He looked up and they could see his eyes smoldering with rage. His gaze fixed on Shion he began to march forward leaving no doubt as to his intentions.

Lee and Sakura got into their battle stances while Taruho drew his sword and stood protectively over a cowering Shion. She hadn't forgotten the incident at her palace after all.

"Everyone, stand down." Neji ordered making the others look at him in surprise.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Shion screamed looking at him as if he had grown another head. "THAT GUY'S A PSYCOPATH." She yelled flinching when she felt Naruto's killing intent intensify at the insult.

"Neji!" Lee looked worriedly at his teammate.

"Stand down." Neji told him then turned towards the approaching Otsutsuki. "Naruto stop this right now." He ordered.

His words had no effect as Naruto continued at his pace.

"Hiashi-sama will hear of this." Neji warned, it fell on deaf ears apparently. "For crying out loud get a hold of yourself." He cried.

"GET A HOLD ON MYSELF?" Naruto barked walking up right into Neji's face. "You have some nerve saying that to me after all the shit we've been taking from that pathetic waste of space." He said pointing towards Shion.

"We're ninja we end.."

"CUT THE BULLSHIT!" He snarled at the shorter boy. "Don't try to feed that brainwashing political mumbo jumbo garbage to me you understand." He warned activating his Byakugan to put further emphasis on his words.

"_Whats his deal."_ Sakura thought, she couldn't understand why the Otsutsuki was overreacting in such a manner. Sure, the priestess was a pain in the ass but still they were ninja, they should have the mental fortitude to deal with these things not throw a temper tantrum over it.

Neji sucked in a breath the killing intent was suffocating; his clothes were beginning to soak given how profusely he was sweating. "Naruto, we have to complete our mission no matter…"

"**I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS."** Naruto roared, his aura exploded sending Neji flying and crashing into a disoriented Lee and Sakura sending them toppling several meters away. Taruho and Shion while a bit further away did not have the physical constitution of a shinobi so when the force hit them it lifted them off their feet and flung them crashing into a tree knocking them unconscious in the process.

"I'm through." Naruto said to his fallen comrades. "YOU!" he addressed Neji who was groaning in pain while trying to collect his bearings. "You go tell Tsunade!" Naruto sucked in a breath trying to keep his emotions in check. "You tell her that she and her village can kiss me where the sun don't shine—and since this fic's not rated, that's my big fat behind." He said pointing to his butt before taking off into the air leaving them to fend for themselves.

"Shit!" Neji slammed his fist into the ground.

* * *

The next morning Naruto woke up from someone dragging him out of the tree he had dropped into for the night, "What on Earth?" he murmured as he was thrown to the ground. As his vision cleared, he saw the figure of his brother Ken standing there. Much like his brothers Ken had grown considerably during the past three years. He stood at the same height as Naruto but possessing a far more muscular physique, while his hair was styled into an Afro. He wore a black and white variant of the Konoha standard Jonin uniform with the Leaf Head Band draped around his forehead. "What you doing here Hercules." Naruto asked wiping the sleep out of his eyes.

"Trying to find your lazy ass 'Slack Jaw'." Ken barked noting the scowl that developed on Naruto's face at the nickname.

Naruto got to his feet dusting himself, "For the last time you didn't break it, I softened it subconsciously and you just happened to land a lucky punch at that moment." He argued.

Ken snorted, "Keep telling yourself that."

"Moving on." Naruto said not wishing to relive one of his most humiliating moments. "I reckon Tsunade sent you to 'straighten me out'. Well you go and tell her that I'm through, I'm not going to guard that insufferable little brat any longer."

Ken's eyes darkened, "You're one to talk." He countered. "What kind of shinobi allows a little girl to get to him. An immature one that's who." He spat.

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Would you stop with all this shinobi nonsense you cruddy asslicker." He insulted his sibling venomously.

"It has nothing to do with ass licking." Ken retorted glaring back at his brother. "I'm quite happy with this profession and our arrangement with the village."

"In case you forgot our goal was to find sanctuary on this back-water planet so that we could hone our skills without interruption." Naruto locked eyes with Ken neither brother letting up. "And when the time was right set the record straight back home."

Ken remained silent for a few seconds before speaking, "Do you seriously believe that you can beat all of them." He implored. "I mean if you do how long can you keep it up before someone else shows up and overthrows you." He let his words sink in then seeing they had no effect resumed. "Look we've got a good thing going here. A village to call home, a clan that's taken us in without asking too much from us, good opportunities better than any we had back home and a lifestyle that allows us to hone our skills continuously."

"But its not enough." Naruto shook his head in dismay. "It doesn't work for me anymore. I need more. I'm getting stronger, I need formidable opponents not the pansies posing you find in those bingo books." His face twisted in disgust. "You know what I'm talking about, you've felt it."

Ken closed his eyes and sighed, "I'll admit your punches have been stinging more than usual." He conceded with reluctance, then as an afterthought he added. "Your timing and speed have been abnormally on mark lately as well, too abnormal for comfort actually." He frowned recalling how during their last fight Naruto had managed to time his bobs and weaves far more efficiently than usual while his always lightning fast hands had easily gotten around his cross lock defense and managed land both accurately and consecutively from different angles dancing around in circles around him easily avoiding his strikes, while that in itself was cause for concern what really shocked him was how for some reasons those same fists which three years previously had barely made him flinch now outright stunned and wobbled him stopping him in his tracks to regain his bearings leaving him open to be counteracted.

"BULLSHIT!" Naruto growled. "They aren't stinging, they're outright bruising. I had you stunned thrice in our last fight."

Ken immediately got defensive, "Hey hold on our last fight was a draw." He stated.

This time Naruto snorted, "Yeah if you call landing only ten clean punches in the whole fight as a draw."

Ken frowned, "If I recall I was the aggressor, I had you running the entire fight."

"More like giving chase and struggling to catch me, while I landed at will." Naruto asserted. "And what do you mean aggressor? I stood and traded with you many times and you couldn't even, your body punches didn't hurt anymore while mine had you kneeling over several times."

"You didn't stop me nor put me down." Ken spat desperately trying to save face.

"Yeah but I did wobble you several times." Naruto said flashing a grin at him. "You were bruised all over by the end of it. Your cross armed defense hasn't been holding up all that well lately." He taunted.

"You haven't been able to pierce it yet." Ken challenged.

"Why bother when I can simply wear it down with my newfound power." Naruto replied cracking his knuckles. "Same old lightning speed and reflexes but now coupled with great one punch KO power; you have the perfect fighter standing before you." Naruto proclaimed spreading his arms out in dramatic fashion.

"Still doesn't hold a candle to Hachiro's raw strength though." Ken pointed out hoping to get even the score.

Naruto didn't take the bait, "Oh you mean the same Hachiro who's knocked you out in every one-sided fight till date." He snickered when Ken clenched his fists in anger. "The same Hachiro who's yet to beat me even once but whom I have defeated each and every time we fought."

"As always you're completely full of yourself." Ken commented narrowing his eyes at the other Otsutsuki. While he didn't want to admit it, it was true. Hachiro had always beaten him in every respect speed, strength, stamina, reflexes, timing, chakra reserves, techniques, raw power you name it. With Mito and Naruto, the stakes had been far more balanced. While both had far outshined him in speed, Naruto surpassing all of them in that department, he'd always managed to overpower Mito in terms of brute strength and power while holding his own against Naruto to a stalemate. However, since the past two years Naruto's physical strength and durability had experienced what he could only call a tremendous growth spurt alongside his speed. His bones, muscle and skin tissue had become incredibly dense. He still didn't match Hachiro's brawn but he wasn't that far off now either. Where before Naruto always fought Hachiro with a stick and move strategy, he now was able to boldly grapple with the brawler and actually hold him at bay much to their younger sibling's chagrin and their shock also occasionally trade toe to toe with him without being pushed backwards. Also, loath as he was to admit it Ken knew his punches weren't hurting Naruto anymore, heck in their previous fight he'd hit him with body punches that would reduce mountains to smithereens and instead ended up with two broken fingers from what felt like hitting a concrete wall.

Naruto grinned, "Face it man, I'm the most well rounded of all of you."

"Says the guy who I had on the ropes after breaking his jaw." Ken exclaimed.

"We were six and you still weren't able to put me away while I closed your eye and the fight ended in a stalemate." Naruto reminded him.

"You caught me off-guard with that punch." Ken accused remembering that particularly nasty left hook from Naruto.

"So, did you with my jaw." Naruto reiterated. "And for the last time you didn't break it, I accidentally activated the ability to soften my bone structure at the wrong moment and you just happened to hit it at that moment. It wasn't your power it was my lack of control over my power."

"Look we can argue about this all day." Ken reasoned.

"I don't really see the argument." Naruto disputed. "I'm simply superior."

"Moving on." Ken insisted quoting Naruto's earlier words making the older sibling snicker. "Tsunade ordered me to make sure you return to your team and continue the mission."

"I refuse." Naruto said started to walk away, when he felt Ken's hand on his shoulder. "Take your hand off me." He warned glaring back at his brother threateningly.

"Don't ruin this difficult Ruto." Ken beseeched him. "We have a good thing going here don't ruin this for us."

Naruto slapped his hand away, "No you have a good thing going here. I'm suffering everyday of my life surrounded by these flunkees. Life is boring I tell you, there's nothing even remotely entertaining in this godforsaken place anymore."

"What about this Moryo dude." Ken suggested desperately trying to get his brother to listen to him. "He seems awful strong according to the rumors."

"I highly doubt it if his minions are anything to go by." Naruto grunted remembering how effortlessly he'd dispatched those weaklings.

"Still why not give it a shot." Ken urged him. "You might end up with a fight on your hands."

"Forget it I'm done." Naruto said taking off.

Seeing the situation escalating beyond his control Ken resorted to his trump card, "Oh and Hachiro said that you were a little bitch for running off with your tail between your legs and that you talked big but all it took was a little girl to bring you down to size." Naruto halted midair and Ken grinned seeing his words have their desired effect, therefore he finished his speech with on final scathing line he knew would get to him. "He also said he'll end this war faster than you ever could."

"That does it." Naruto said trembling with rage he fixed his gaze on Ken. "Fine you win this round, but you better make sure that 'Cow Tits' gives me a bonus for this."

Ken brought two fingers to his forehead in mock salute, "You got it."

Naruto nodded and then extended his senses to lock on to his teammates signature, his eyes widening as he did so, "Shit!" he cursed.

Ken looked at him in concern, "What? What happened?"

Naruto didn't reply instead took off in the opposite direction ignoring his brother calling out after him.

Ken saw Naruto disappear in the distance, "Damn I don't get paid enough for this." He said massaging his temples.

* * *

After two minutes of flying at high speeds over the woodland Naruto eventually arrived at his destination, where his comrades stood in a circle around the lifeless form of the priestess of the Land of Demons Shion, "I leave you guys for a few hours and shit hits the fan." He quirked, alerting them to his presence.

"YOU!" Sakura shouted rushing at and grabbing him by the collar. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"What the hell? Let go!" Naruto said trying to break her hold on him but she wouldn't budge. "Damn it! I come back to check up on you guys and this is the thanks I get it." He glared at her.

"Check up on us." Her eyes widened his disbelief and she couldn't help but chuckle at the audacity of his words. "You have nerve. YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE." She creamed in his face making his sensitive ears ache. "You should have been there to help us fight off the enemy. But no! you were too busy throwing tantrums and running off like a pussy because a little wet behind the ears priestess insulted your sorry ass." She yelled.

Naruto was livid at this point, the previous night's anger returning tenfold, his ears hurt, his dignity had been taken from him and to top it off he was being manhandled by this poor excuse of a woman. It took every ounce of self-control that he possessed to stop himself from snapping the pink haired howler monkey's head right then and there. Instead he motioned to Neji, "You better tell her to let go and shut that trap of hers if knows what's good for her." He advised his eyes promising pain if his demand was not met.

Neji for his part seemed reluctant to get involved.

Seeing that the Hyuga was not going to act Naruto sighed, "Okay fine be that way." He said activating his Byakugan.

"Stop it!" a female voice interrupted.

"Huh!" Naruto looked on in confusion and then surprise when an alive and unscathed Shion emerged from the woods and walked over to stand beside her doppelganger. "What the hell? What a minute if you're Shion..then…" he pushed Sakura away earning a yelp from the pink haired girl as he examined the body on the ground scanning it with his Byakugan. "Taruho."

"Yes Taruho! He's dead." Shion confirmed her eyes lowered to the ground.

Naruto frowned; he could see that much. "How did this happen?" he pressed.

Neji decided to answer, "When we parted ways with him, he said he'd take a different route to the shrine in case he could be off help when we arrived there."

"But who could have imagined this is what he meant." Sakura said downtrodden. "He used a jutsu that permanently transformed him into Shion." She explained sadly. "He was adamant on taking her place and nothing I said would sway him. He gave his life to protect Shion. No thanks to you." She glared at the Otsutsuki again but he ignored her.

Naruto frowned at this revelation, "Why didn't you tell him to go home Neji?" he asked the Hyuga.

"For the sake of the mission." Neji replied, but he could see Naruto wasn't satisfied so he elaborated. "Look the fate of the world is hanging in the balance. We have to do whatever is necessary."

"At what cost?" Naruto questioned.

"You're one to talk you deserter." Sakura threw another jab his way.

"Would you cut it out already?" Naruto cried getting tired of hearing the girl's voice.

"Taruho was a fool." Shion's voice broke in again.

"Say what now?" Naruto blabbered looking at Shion again.

"Death was his choice." She said her back to them. "There's no need to mourn the idiot."

"Oh really." Naruto said a small smirk appearing on his face. "Then why does it seem like you're mourning him right now?" he queried playfully.

His words seem to set her off, "BE QUIET!" She suddenly screamed back at him before taking off, running into the woods, "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"_So, she does have a heart."_ Naruto thought as he watched her sprint away.

After what felt like hours of running, Shion stopped in front of a tall standing tree using it as a support to catch her breath and prevent herself from collapsing in sorrow.

"You miss him already don't you IP Man." Naruto observed having magically appeared behind her from nowhere though after today's events it didn't surprise her anymore so she gave no reaction. "His death hit you pretty hard." He added.

Tears trailing down her cheeks, her voice trembling Shion replied, "How can I not be heartbroken…" Clenching her teeth and shaking her head she howled loud enough for the world to hear, "WHEN SOMEONE SO CLOSE TO ME IS GONE!"

"And here I thought Flatty Mcgee was loud." Naruto groaned rubbing his aching ears.

Shion continued to sob against the tree, "I can't allow myself to cry. It would only desecrate the memories of the many who have given their lives for me." She exclaimed.

Naruto gave her a puzzled look, "But that doesn't make sense. What's wrong with mourning your loved ones?"

Shion moved away from the tree but still didn't look at him, "Foresight… is the power that ensures the life of the priestess of the Land of Demons. When she perceives her death, the soul leaves the body and shows the past self the image of her demise, as well as the people who are near her in that final moment. The priestess then reveals this vision to her attendants, who believe they must take her place to prevent her death, sacrificing others so that I may live." She fell to her knees at the end of her monologue.

"Woah!" Naruto breathed genuinely impressed. "And here I thought I was special."

His words seemed to incite her again as she angrily glared at him, "THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT IT." She spat before hiding her face in her harms. "It's a curse." She wept.

Naruto stared down at her, _"She's had it rough in her own way, that's why she adopts that cold exterior. To hide the pain."_

"So many times, I thought to myself… that I should just leave this world and be done with it. But I can't. If I die… there will be no one left to seal Moryu away… and the world will be lost. No matter how much pain or sadness I swallow… more will die so that I can live!" she choked out.

"Sounds ridiculous if you ask me." Naruto voiced his opinion. "Why must your people sacrifice?"

Shion finally looked at him, her anguished eyes meeting his pupilless one's, "It's just how it is for us. No matter how unjust; we endure." Her tone became bitter. "It's my people's fate… and mine."

"_We're ninja, we end."_ Neji's incomplete sentence reverberated through Naruto's mind. "And you… you're okay with that? Totally fine with it?" he asked not believing her words for a minute.

Shion offered no response as she continued to cry her heart out.

Night had fallen and Team 7 were currently standing beside Tauho's grave having buried him at the site of his last stand where he had bravely sacrificed himself to ensure the survival of his leader and the by extension the world bringing honor to his clan name. All this had been inscribed on his gravestone at Naruto's insistence; he may have not liked the guy much but he understood that Taruho's heart was in the right place in its own right.

"Naruto!" Neji's voice broke him from his musings. "Yeah!" he replied.

"Sakura, Lee and I will stay here and wait for the enemy." Neji explained. "I want you to take Lady Shion and keep heading for the sealing shrine."

"Affirmative." Naruto said seriously his eyes drifting to Shion behind him, the time for games were over. He noticed Lee was visibly nervous at his proclamation, "You got something to say skybrows?"

Lee ignored the nickname choosing to express his worries instead, "Neji she saw Naruto's death. Is it safe for him?" he said entreating Neji to reconsider.

Sakura didn't seem as bothered.

"Correction!" Naruto said wiggling his pale finger at them. "She said all of us would die in the upcoming conflict."

"Precisely!" Neji agreed. "Which means it doesn't matter which one us takes her there we'll all be in danger regardless."

"Therefore, we go with the guy with the highest probability of both survival and success." Naruto concluded causing the others to roll their eyes at his self-praising tendency.

"You must make haste." Neji cautioned. "We can't let the enemy get the jump on us again and target Lady Shion." He informed the Otsutsuki. "Now hurry and take her to the shrine."

"You got it." Naruto gave them a thumbs up. "Let's go IP Man." He said scooping the priestess in his arms, eliciting a squawk from her and flew off into the night.


	6. The Land of Demons Arc Part 2

The Land of Demons Arc Part 2

Hidden Leaf Village

"The Ghost Army just disappeared?" Tsunade asked cynically not believing her apprentice's words. "But they were right on top of us?"

"Could they have retreated somehow?" Shizune suggested hopefully. "Maybe we're safe from destruction." However, by her tone Tsunade could tell she didn't think so.

"No! It's just the opposite." Tsunade said head resting on her entwined hands, her expression was grim. "Our enemy is gambling on a swift victory." Her words were full of foreboding.

Shizune gasped at her teacher's words.

* * *

Land of Swamps

"Well here we are IP Man." Naruto said landing with Shion on one of the rocky hillsides which led to the base of the enormous mountain that housed the shrine. "That's the entrance over there." He pointed to a tunnel like opening a short distance away.

"Have you been here before then." She asked inquisitively.

"No just a lucky guess that's all." He replied cheerfully grinning widely.

Shion looked away in annoyance. _"Seriously does this guy ever stop?"_ she internally groaned.

"Now let's go whup this Moro…"

"Moryo!"

"Whatever! Let's seal this guy away so we can carve a new destiny for you." Naruto declared voice full of enthusiasm.

"You can't change your fate…" she yelped when Naruto jumped down with her.

"Bullshit!" he affirmed as they touched the ground. "I'll show you how it's done and….Oh boy."

A low rumbling followed by the sounds of rock exploding drew their gazes toward the collection of boulders surrounding them, hundreds of rocks going up in a shower of smoke and debris, the pair then saw an army of soldiers dressed in battle armor rise up from out of the shells followed by several others, the terracotta warriors made their presences known with a flash of their eyes and a drawing of their weapons.

"The Terracotta Soldiers." Shion gasped and Naruto could feel her grip on him tighten. "If these things are on the march right now it means Moryo is already somewhere nearby."

"You don't say." Naruto replied as he jumped into the air with her when one Terracotta soldier attempted to split them in half with his weapon.

"What do we do?" Shion asked him in a fit of panic.

"What do we do?" he looked back at her as if she'd said the most ridiculous thing in the world. "Why we fight of course. Now tuck your legs in and hold on tight." he ordered before pouncing down on one of the Terracotta minions obliterating it underneath him. "Say hello to my little friends." He said as a foot-long bone claw emerged from the knuckles of his hands.

"What are those?" Shion gasped horrified and disgusted at this new development.

"No time." Naruto answered his bone claws igniting with chakra as the rock soldiers began to advance on them. "Take this." He shouted as he spun his body swiping his claws in a circular motion the chakra lengthening from his blades like spokes of a wheel and cleaved through the small army in a clockwise pattern cutting through the durable rock armor and weapons, tearing apart a large portion of the rocky landscape slicing in half several stone bodies.

As the dust cleared Naruto with a dizzy Shion on his back admired his handiwork, smiling at the broken split remains of what had once been a formidable army now reduced to mere broken pieces of rubble and rock. "WHO'S NEXT!" he challenged to no one in particular. In response to his challenge however the ground began to rumble again as the shaking rocks began to levitate reforming into the broken soldiers once more.

"Me and my big mouth." Naruto groaned, seeing that his previous attack had no effect.

"What now." Shion asked having grown as pale as Naruto.

"What now?" Naruto asked both himself and her. "RUN!" he screamed taking off into the air with her. Unfortunately, due to the suddenness of his action Shion lost her grip on him and fell free from his back high above the ground and falling over the side of a cliff.

"IP MAN!" Naruto yelled diving straight for her.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Shion continued her descent. "Will I…..will I be saved again?" she wondered contemplating if this was really the end while continuing to plummet. The chiming of her bell broke her out of her reverie and she glanced down at the approaching lake below her. "Maybe if I die here those Shinobi and my people won't have to give their lives." She made her decision closing her eyes she accepted her fate. However, the very next moment she felt a pair of arms wrap around her and pull her up her head coming to rest against what felt like a steel wall, scooping her up into the air.

"That was close. You had me worried there IP Man" Naruto said smiling down at her as he lowered them to the shore gently setting her at the base of a tree. "You okay." He asked.

"You shouldn't have saved me." Shion reprimanded him, her eyes downcast as she hugged her knees. "If you'd just let me go…. you wouldn't have to die." She said lowering her gaze and frowning as another thought occurred to her. "Well at least not until Moryo gets around to destroying the world." She was the image of hopelessness.

"You're welcome!" Naruto grumbled ignoring her tirade; he sighed and walked away from her.

"Where are you going." She asked still slumping gloomily against the tree.

"I'm keeping my distance." He stated. "Don't want your misery to rub off on me."

She scowled at his words but offered no retort.

"I mean seriously." He shook his head irritation. "You're the only one that can seal Moryo away, you're the one that everybody's counting on to save the world." He stressed, and saw that her brow was twitching dangerously. "And here you are crying over your existence, fate and what not and giving up prematurely. Why are you making excuses to run away when you should stay put and face your demons….literally."

"LIKE YOU STAYED AND PREVENTED TARUHO FROM SACRIFING HIMSELF?" She bellowed at him the wound still raw reopening.

Her statement caught Naruto by surprise evident when he flinched and for a while both stayed their eyes locked together in a stare down with nothing but silence reigning between them.

Shion looked away first already regretting her words, her upbringing had taught her better, something she had been taking for granted lately. "I'm sorry that was out of line." She apologized politely. Her eyes widened when his laughter greeted her ears. She looked back and saw him holding his chest all the while laughing uncontrollably. For a moment she thought he'd gone mad.

Naruto wiped clean a tear as sucking in a deep breath trying to calm himself finally managing to find his voice "Man you got me there." He giggled.

"I said I was sorry." She tried to reason, but stopped when he shook his head.

"You don't get it." He explained. "I walked right into that one. You totally owned me there IP Man." He chuckled.

Shion had a deadpan expression on her face, "Are you out of your mind? Do you think this is a time for jokes?"

Naruto smirked, "Now's no time to mope around either." He exclaimed and grinned on seeing eyes widen and her face go red as the realization of his words dawned on her. "You get it now?"

Shion wasn't willing to give in, "It's useless." she said looking away.

Naruto growled in anger tired of her self-pity, "DAMN IT! IT'S NOT USELESS." He yelled at her.

"That just means that I will be the one to go." She countered.

Naruto swung his arm in the air, "I won't let you die nor anyone else including myself." He tried to assure her.

"One of us will be dead." She didn't let up. "It's just a question of whom."

"Don't give me that." He said clenching his fists angrily. "The future isn't written yet we can still change it."

Shion closed her eyes angrily still looking away. "For the hundredth time you cannot…"

"I got this," Naruto interrupted, appearing directly in front of the priestess gripping her shoulders his face an inch away from hers startling Shion out of her sentence, drawing a sharp inhale from her.

"I promise I'll make the bad monsters go away." He reassured her giving her shoulders a gentle squeeze for encouragement.

Blushing at his actions and due to their close proximity Shion quickly turned and faced the tree, meekly placing her hand against its side and beginning to tremble. "How though it's impossible."

Naruto carefully turned her trembling forming so that she was face to face with him again. "Trust me!" he entreated.

Shion's heartbeat quickened forcing her to shut her eyes and look away again, _"W-Why can't I look at him?"_ she asked herself, she'd never felt like this before. "Trust you?" she looked back only to see that he was no longer next to her rather he stood a few steps away bending slightly motioning for her to get on his back.

"No more excuses IP Man." he said firmly bending down to his knees. "Come on! Let's get to work."

Shion continued to stare at him for a few moments, before her lips curled into a small smile his confidence giving her strength. She rose to her feet, and draped herself across the boy's back, wrapping her arms around him. As he rose to his full height she whispered into his ear, "Naruto!"

"Hmm?"

"Do you swear." She asked wanting to reconfirm if he truly believed he could save her.

His answer caught her off-guard however, "Didn't your mother ever tell you that you should never swear." He reprimanded her in a playful tone grinning back at her as he did so.

"Huh!" Shion mumbled before her lips curved up this time by their own violation into a much wider grin, she started to chuckle before starting to howl with laughter.

"That's more like it." Naruto cheered with glee. _"Bucking her up was easier than I thought."_

Shion couldn't hold it in anymore; tears fell from her eyes as her laughter echoed into the night, it felt like a huge weight was lifted from her chest.

"Time for Round 2." He announced as they flew back to the shrine.

* * *

The stone army, now numbering within hundreds was standing guard vigilantly in the now deserted valley watching over the small entrance to the shrine.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." The soldiers' attention was drawn to the white-haired boy appearing on a peak overlooking them, the priestess clad protectively on his back. Their target within their sights the stone warriors began to march towards the duo.

Shion looked on nervously then frowned, "You idiot why did you have to get their attention like that. You could have ambushed them? How are we going to stop the now?" she bonked him on the head then cringed in pain when her knuckles hurt. "What the hell is that head made off?" She moaned in pain.

"You wouldn't want me to head butt you that's for sure." He replied before letting her down.

"What are you doing?" she asked confused at his actions.

"Regarding your previous question, you asked how I planned to stop them." he said and raised his arm in the direction of the approaching army. "This is how." He said focusing his chakra into his palm.

A foreign force suddenly impressed itself on the Terracotta Legion halting them in their tracks. The battalions tried to resist however whereas the dark energy that sustained them controlled their actions this new source apparently controlled their very being and was preventing them from carrying out those commands. The dark chakra struggled to override the control the foreign entity was exerting upon its minions but to avail as the alien chakra easily held its ground.

Shion watched on in amazement as Naruto restrained the entire force with a single hand, "How…how are you doing that?" she gasped flabbergasted beyond belief.

"Earth Bending!" he revealed, and then elaborated, "It's an advanced study of elemental control where I can perform elemental jutsu without the need for hand signs." He explained while exerting more control over the platoon forcing them perfectly still before continuing on, "The technique I'm currently using allows me to manipulate the Earth element around me and do whatever I want to with it. Since those soldiers were created from rock which comprises of earth particles, I can control it and by extension them too." He concluded his explanation and snickered at the look of wonder on her face.

"Yeah I got that a lot." He held his head up in pride enjoying the veneration he was receiving from the impressionable young girl. "Anyway, you better get going; I'll hold them in place while you go seal that demon. Okay!" he asked but when he looked down, he saw still staring transfixed at him. "Great! You just had to overdo it again." He mentally slapped himself. "Hey IP Man!" he said shaking her gently trying to get her to focus. "We gotta world to save." He said clicking his fingers in front of her face to break her out of her reverie. When she still didn't respond he lost patience and resorted to more crude tactics. "WAKE UP!" he yelled smacking her upside the head.

Shion yelped in pain coming back from dream land clutching her aching head, "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"

"For being too busy ogling my pretty face while we got a world to save." He shouted at her making her flush in shame at her lapse in judgment.

"_Oh my god! How could I act so stupid?"_ She hid her face in her hands in embarrassment; as a result, she felt another hard smack on her head making her see stars.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" he yelled dragging her forward. "GET TO WORK." He commanded pushing her in the direction of the shrine.

Shion shook her head trying to clear the cobwebs, "Honestly." She said a bit miffed as she made her way across the rocky terrain towards the shrine a bit nervous when she crossed the numerous regiments that were being restrained by her friend. Wait a minute. She paused! Did she just think that? Did she just think of him as a friend? A spear piercing the ground a foot away from her broke her from her musings causing her to jump back in shock lose her footing and hit the hard ground beneath her.

"STOP ZONING OUT!" Naruto screamed in the distance. "THAT'S IT! YOU DO THAT ONCE MORE AND I'M LETTING THESE GUYS HAVE THEIR WAY WITH YOU." To drive home his point, the rock soldiers simultaneously shifted their gaze on the girl their emotionless glowing eyes boring holes into her making her grow pale with fear.

"10, 9, 8, 7..." he began a countdown.

"STOP I'M GOING ALREADY." She cried dragging herself to her feet and running towards the shrine with haste. Within a minute she was at the entrance.

"That's more like it." Naruto said as he watched her disappear into the tunnel.

* * *

After a long trek through the dark, depressing tunnel Shion finally made it to the chamber, it was essentially a maze of open, winding pathways stretching across a glowing-hot, molten surface of lava, which bubbled and sizzled away, lighting up the entire room with an eerie, orange aura.

"You've grown."

Shion jumped at the new voice, she turned towards the direction where it had come from. There a few blocks away from her was a frail looking man sitting at the base of a platform with two Terracotta warriors standing guard on either side of him. His face was concealed by his long, black hair and bearing equally dark robes. She could feel the sinister chakra lurking from him, so this was the Moryo's host body.

"You look like Miruko!" the man observed as his stone puppets began to move towards her. "My name is Yomi. Come now let us make the young priestess feel welcome."

"STAY AWAY!" Shion cried in fear as she ran from the approaching guards.

"Long ago your mother stood in the path of my ambition." The now named Yomi explained relishing in the fear's despair as she tried to outrun her pursuers. "I wonder do you remember that day?" he questioned the scared child. "We had resurrected Moryo ensuring his return and the Thousand Year Kingdom was within our grasp. If only your mother had not been there to ruin it" He rasped, just as Shion found herself at a dead end overlooking a stream of boiling red molten lava flocked by three of the stone puppets.

Shion trembled in horror as one of them raised his sword preparing to strike her down, "NO! GET BACK! STAY AWAY!" she yelled in fear. As if in response to her plea for help her bell glowed brightly and a brilliant red beam of light shot out from it cutting through her assailants, destroying them. Shion collapsed on her knees shaking uncontrollably as the statues broke into a pile of rubble.

"Such shock upon your face, "Yomi commented as her bell ceased its glow. "Is it possible that you are unaware of the power you possess? This is certainly surprising, as old as you are, have you really learnt nothing." He snarled in disgust.

His cruel words and the anger they evoked brought her back to reality, glaring at him she got back up, "Every day I have prepared for this moment, I've mastered…"

"The sealing jutsu." Yomi completed her sentence for her. "Have you now." He quirked his brow in amusement. He started chuckling, "Then by all means hurry over here and seal me away." He beckoned her. "If you can."

"_I go this."_ Naruto's words echoed in her mind. Gripping the bell on her sleeve for emotional support she bravely trekked forward._ "You meant it didn't you Naruto?"_

"There's something you should know." He said interrupting her thoughts. "It's actually impossible for me to kill you." He then grinned at her. "And by the same token you haven't the power to eliminate me." What he said next shocked her to her core. "Because originally you and I were one and the same entity."

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!" Shion yelled not willing to believe his nonsense. "YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO TRICK ME WITH YOUR LIES."

"What reason would I have to lie?" Yomi retorted counteracting her statement.

"I'm going to do it." Shion stated moving over to the podium.

Yomi's eyes followed her, "The truth is the seal's sole purpose is to join you and I as one." His words stopped her in her tracks. "Miruko your dear mother accepted that."

Shion glanced back at him.

"Yes, that's right! Your mother exists within me." He hissed eliciting a gasp form her.

He enjoyed that look on her face, "To prevent ourselves from abusing such enormous power we split into two entities, two hearts, two beliefs and thus we have lived, forever at odds staring each other down. Although somewhere down the line one became the evil Moryo and the other…the good priestess. We cannot be bound by words like light, dark, good, evil." He declared.

Shion ignored him and instead focused her attention to the engraving in the floor and began the ritual. Bringing her right hand out to the side, the girl began drawing signs with it, reciting each individual seal before throwing her hand skyward. As she did this, the area around her was lit up by four glowing balls of pink light, which suspended themselves in separate corners of the ring. She felt herself levitate off the ground and the entire seal at her feet light up with a bright, ethereal light, forming a circular barrier around her.

A twisted grin broke across Yomi's face as he watched this happen, "A barrier…well."

Shion continued to recite the incantations while simultaneously going through the motions with her arms as small rectangular pillars begin to emerge from within the circle. The next instant she felt settle on her which she soon identified as Yomi's prone form draped across her back with its head on her shoulder. She screamed in panic and fear the extra weight causing her already weak trembling knees to fail her and for the millionth time that day she fell landing on her side watching as Yomi's lifeless disfigured corpse fell next to her she immediately crawled away from it in dread.

A deep, sinister laugh reverberated across the hall getting her attention. **"You were too hasty, young priestess. You should have waited until this one was dead before you raised your barrier." **The demon taunted her.

"H-He killed him… to get inside the barrier." Shion realized, her eyes snapping to the tomb containing Moryo's body she dashed towards it and used her body as a shield to prevent it from opening.

Unfortunately, a blackish-purple cloud of dark energy escaped from Yomi's body and flew towards her, blowing her away with a powerful gust of wind, sending both her and the former host body flying across the platform. While the corpse of Yomi simply slipped through the barrier, the priestess's body wasn't so lucky instead slamming against it, screaming in pain when she was zapped by electricity before being tossed back to the ground.

Moryo's crooked laugh assaulted her hearing once more, **"Once the barrier has been raised, there is no escape for either of us. Not until one consumes the other… and that will be decided by our chakra!"** The tomb opened and the mist form of Moryo quickly flowed inside, reuniting with his body, with that the tomb closed once more. **"Reunited at last with my body and flesh, you have my thanks child. That wretch no longer had the power to break the seal and the shrine."** those were his last mocking words letting the severity of Shion's failure sink in.

Shion could only helplessly watch with her arm outstretched as the barrier disappeared around her before slumping in defeat, tears trailing down her cheeks in shame. "What have I done?" she said to herself. "All these years what were they for?"

"IP MAN!"

She glanced back at Naruto's approaching figure as he came to a stop a few pathways from her position.

"Are you okay?" he asked her his eyes full of concern. The anguished look she gave him answered all his questions.

They had failed. Period!

The look of disappointment on his face made Shion break down, "I…I didn't deserve to be protected by you…or anyone else." She choked out through her tears.

"_Whats that chakra I'm sensing?"_ Naruto thought sensing a build-up beneath them. Acting quick he shunshined to her location scooping her up protectively in his arms despite her protests to save himself.

At that moment the shrine began to rupture and masses of purplish-blackish smoke shoot up into the air, filling the chamber, taking shape and growing in size, the pair saw several dragon heads form on the ends of the enormous tendrils, and the eyes of each and every one focusing on them, the heads gave out respective cries and hisses, and began to writhe around more erratically as they spread themselves out across the space provided.

"Man, you are one ugly motherfucker." Naruto commented.

Shion for her part eyes shimmering in fear, her trembling form clung to Naruto in desperation seeking respite from the horror before her. "W..What now?" She managed to ask.

Naruto glared at the monstrosity before him, "Well for starters we establish a home field advantage." He said.

At that moment one of the Dragon Heads shot towards them making Shion scream and hide in Naruto's chest. Naruto for his part merely activated his Byakugan emitting a powerful pulse of chakra that hit the beast making it explode into a blackish-purple cloud of chakra before dissipating completely.

"That all you got?" Naruto yelled at the original.

In response a dozen more came at him and Shion but he was able to fly away from them as they gave chase.

"Hold on!" he told her as they ran from the demonic heads flying over the molten rocks and pathways taking note not to fly to low so to avoid getting caught by the boiling lava. "Catch me if you can." Naruto yelled as he forced his pursuers into a cat and mouse chase inside the volcanic chamber.

As they ran a Dragon emerged from the ground right below them its steaming mouth its mouth wide open intent on consuming them.

"LOOK OUT." Shion screamed as she shut her eyes and hid her face in his back.

Naruto inhaled deeply and then breathed a powerful torrent of flames into the beast's mouth, the dragon choking in agony as it swallowed the flames its body glowing red briefly as the flames incinerated it from the inside before exploding altogether sending rubble and debris flying everywhere.

"That's more like it." Naruto cheered just as five more reptiles attempted to smother him, however he skillfully danced around them, avoiding their strikes and countering effectively. Three of them shot energy blasts at him but he easily zipped around them then shunshined right behind the two nearest ones and sliced them to bits with his wrist blades.

"Man, these things are slow." Naruto commented to Shion as he noticed two of them coming at him from opposite directions. "Predictable too." He added as he flew away at the last instant causing them to collide together then with a swipe of his bone blades, he decapitated them. "Too easy!" he was forced to move out of the way of the remaining purple beam that ripped apart the cave wall next to them shooting out of the volcano.

"Okay that was close." Naruto breathed as his heartbeat returned to normal. "How you holding up?" he glanced back at the girl, she looked like she was about to throw up. Naruto had the decency to blush in embarrassment at his stupid question. "Sorry my bad! Just a bit longer okay." He said gazing at the numerous monstrosities surrounding them. "Wait here." he said setting her on one of the pathways well aware of the predatory eyes watching his every move. "I'll be right back." He grinned and she could see his bone blades emerge from his knuckles and the he was gone.

The sounds of torn flesh could suddenly be heard, multiple flashes of white light could be seen sliced through every single one of the beasts hacking them to small pieces, their remains flying all over the place before falling down into and being consumed by the lava.

"And done!" Naruto said flashing her a smile as he materialized next to her, taking her by surprise.

"YOU IDIOT! DON'T DO THAT!" she punched at him but he moved aside at the last minute making her stumble and lose her footing, he caught her before she could fall though.

"I risk my life for you and this is the thanks I get?" he asked her with mock hurt.

"Idiot!" Shion muttered under her breath looking away.

A deep rumble cut their conversation short. "It's not over yet." Naruto said looking back and was a bit surprised to see the chopped entities reform themselves. "Okay I didn't see this coming." He told her while sensing a buildup of chakra and saw a dozen or so newly formed reptiles gathering chakra in their mouths. Meeting their demonic eyes, he issued his challenge. "Bring it!"

The dragons reeled forward and unleashed the charged-up energy blasts at them in a torrent of raw energy.

"NARUTO!" Shion screamed in panic her nausea forgotten in the face of death.

"Don't worry I got this." He said quickly extending his hand creating a chakra shield to protect them. The powerful beam of energy collided with Naruto's defense discharging small sparks of energy in the surroundings beginning a struggle for dominance between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

With Shion could only gaze in awe at this jaw dropping display, watching Naruto hold his own against the power of a demonic entity; however, at the same time she was also a bit nervous as she wasn't sure how long Naruto could keep this up.

"**You pest! Give up already."** Moryo's snarl boomed across the chamber prompting Shion to clutch Naruto tightly for support.

"No can do." Naruto replied as he continued to block the demon's beam. "I got a demon to skin." He taunted enraging the demon further.

"**Such insolence!"** the energy blast intensified as more power was added to it forcing Naruto & Shion to back up a bit as the beam doubled in size.

"Two can play at that game." Naruto spat as he reinforced his shield with more chakra enhancing its prominence while increasing its size allowing him to push the demon's attack back towards it. "We're not out of the game yet IP Man." He reassured the frightened girl.

The two opposing forces continued their clash from opposite sides of the volcanic hall, each trying to overcome the other when suddenly several more dragons emerged from the molten surface flaking the duo from all sides and began to charge their beams.

"Oh no you don't." Naruto stated as a white substance began to grow around and from his free arm extending several feet into air the taking the form of a long sharp bone sword. Faster than the beasts could react Naruto slashed at them with his blade in a single swipe sliced through every single one dispelling them.

"**Fool!"** Moryo roared, spawning yet more of those monsters this time shooting their beams from a distance.

"Crap!" Naruto cursed accepting that he was outgunned he dispelled his blade and created a complete spherical protective barrier around them blocking out the multiple lasers now coming from all sides.

"Naruto what are we going to do now? He's got us surrounded." Shion sobbed hugging her trembling form.

"Don't worry I got a plan." He replied surveying the smelting landscape below. His Byakugan turned orange-red in color beginning to glow as he focused hard on the burning lava beneath the surface all the while making sure his shield held up against his opponent's continuous barrage.

"What are you doing?" Shion asked him.

"Ending this!" he answered much to her confusion, concentrating his chakra he imposed his will on the flaming substance and began to manipulate it, causing it to overheat.

"**Foolish mortals!"** Moryo snarled at them intensifying his attack further, **"You have no hope of escape. Surrender now and your death will be painless."** Each of the heads hissed their approval.

"Pass!" was Naruto's as the barrier around him suddenly expanded outwards overpowering the beams and like a shockwave collided with the multiple headed entities rupturing them, sending them crashing into the walls and surface of the cave forming craters, the entire place shook from the force a huge wave of boiling hot lava spill out over the area.

"Nows our chance." Naruto said grabbing Shion and dashing to the exit, as the temperature in the room began to skyrocket and the ground began shaking.

"What's happening?" Shion said as she saw cracks appear in the tunnel walls around her.

"The whole place is going down that's what." Naruto said as he flew faster eager to get out before that happened.

"Let me guess you had something to do with it?" She stated rolling her eyes.

"You know me too well." He glanced back at her and smirked. "Yeah I manipulated the all that lava, made it overheat so it'd grow unstable and rise to the surface and explode around him sending that bastard straight to hell."

Shion could only stare at him with respect once again left speechless at his ingenuity, _"He really is something else."_ She then noticed the light in the distance.

"Finally!" Naruto let out a breath of relief as they exited the tunnel, flying over the destroyed terracotta army littered over the rocky valley that housed the shrine moving further in the direction of the woodland. Naruto finally spotted Team 7 along with that girl from the Sand, what was her name again, waiting on a cliff overlooking the forest region. "Hey guys."

"Naruto!" Lee cried running over to him happy to see his comrade alive and safe.

"You made it." Was the first thing Neji said as they touched down the relief was evident on his features.

"Duh! What did you expect?" Naruto exclaimed cracking a smile.

Neji couldn't help it and in a rare display smiled back.

Kakashi decided to interject. "What about the enemy?" he questioned.

Naruto snickered, "Just watch."

* * *

Back in the chamber Moryo had just finished healing from the damage and reforming. The demon exploded in rage its chakra flaring dangerously as it searched for its targets but couldn't find them they had retreated the demon snickered. **"So, they think they can escape me? Well…"**

He never got to complete his sentence when the ground below him cracked open and an ocean of lava exploded from it colliding tearing through the rock walls, the screams of the entity being consumed in a sea of flames was drowned out by the sound of noise of the huge waves splashing over and incinerating the inside of the cave tearing across the chamber drilling into the mountain wall and blasting out carrying the remains of the demon with it in a magnificent eruption, filling the sky with flames.

From a safe distance, the ninja watched this happen stupefied at the sight before them gazing down as the flowing molten lava consumed the barren valley below burning away the remnants of the ghost army wiping the last sign of Moryo's existence from the world.

"Blew him, away didn't I?" Naruto said laughing at the irony of his joke.

Shion rolled her eyes a little at his words but smiled nonetheless. "He's really gone?" she half stated half hoped. "It's finally over." she breathed in relief starting to believe it.

"And created a new volcano in the process." Lee commented.

"Knucklehead!" Shikamaru sighed, true to his Nara roots he found this far too troublesome to deal with.

"That's what you get leaving it to this guy." Temari added in her own two scents from the large boulder she was sitting on.

"Hey this knucklehead just saved all of your sorry asses." Naruto shot back, seriously what did it take to get a little credit here. "If it weren't for me you guys would still be stuck battling that never-ending army."

"Show off!" Sakura muttered under her breath.

"I heard that pinky." Naruto snarled at the girl.

"Good!" the pink head spat at him.

"_Seriously is she going to start this right now?"_ Kakashi thought sighing at his student's immature behavior.

"They don't get along much do they?" Shikamaru whispered into Neji's ear.

"You don't know the half of it." The branch member replied.

Guy & Lee just smiled.

"Listen here girly, I'm the greatest of all ti…" Naruto paused as a sinister presence registered on his senses. He gazed upwards at the sky his eyes widening as he did so.

The others followed suit, what they saw had them gaping in horror.

Shion fell to her knees her breath coming in heavy gasps as she felt the mass I influx of power, "He's alive."

Thin lines of dark purple colored smoke were emerging from several cracks in the wasted valley floating up into the sky. The gang watched in horror as the smoke converged to form a large thunderous cloud blocking out the sun and casting a shadow over the entire planet. Lightning flashed across the sky momentarily lighting up the area followed by a powerful gale of wind began to blow throughout the region the currents uprooting even the forest trees and large rocks such as the one Temari was sitting on. The gathered ninja had to struggle not to be blown away.

"Hold on." Naruto said immediately grabbing a screaming Shion before she got carried away by the tempest.

The others were barely holding on themselves Shikamaru had summoned thin shadow ropes around himself and Temari anchoring them to the surface by having said shadows fasten around the surrounding boulders. Lee and Guy were managing to stay on their feet thanks to their intense physical training.

"KAKASHI SENSEI!" Sakura screamed as she was lifted off her feet and nearly carried off however a string of ninja wire wrapped around her at the last second holding her in place, she looked down and saw Kakashi struggling to keep his grip on the wire with one hand while the other had a kunai wedged into the side of a short stone pillar for support.

"SERIOUSLY WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO KILL THIS FREAK?" Naruto yelled in annoyance as he observed the thunderous whirlpool of darkness above them and gasped when several dragon entities like the one's from earlier began popping out from the dark nebula as a maniacal laughter began to assault their ears. Then each dragon opened its mouth and fired a volcanic energy beam at the Earth, the red lines of malevolence raining down to the ground in a series of cataclysmic explosions causing massive devastation shaking the entire continent.

"Bitch please!" Naruto bellowed as he used his Byakugan to deflect the incoming beams protecting his party, the beams bouncing off the invisible shield around them and searing the ground around them.

"If this keeps up this entire country is going to be reduced to dust." Kakashi wheezed feeling the strain in his muscles as he held on for dear life.

"I'll say!" Naruto reciprocated, turning to the girl currently wedged in his chest. "You never told me this freak was an elemental." He accused her making her scowl.

"He's a demon for crying out loud, he has a plethora of abilities beyond any shinobi." She responded back frowning in indignation.

"Great just great." Naruto commented shaking his head in frustration.

"LOOK OUT!" Temari screamed.

"Wha…."

So distracted were they by Temari's outburst and the subsequent flashing of light that accompanied it that they were completely caught off-guard when the ground gave way beneath them as the cliff collapsed in its entirety while its occupants disoriented and with nothing left to latch onto were carried away by the storm.

"IP Man?" Naruto said catching Shion midair halting himself in spite of the force of the winds. "What the hell!" he looked on in astonishment as hundreds of twisters took form and began ravaging the landscape, the concentration of air so dense that they managed to literally grind through the small mountains in the distance.

"Sixth of Pain Open!" Both Guy and Lee shouted as their skins turned red their bodies emitting a green aura, the sudden influx of power allowing them to literally kick through one of the twisters dissipating it with the force of their combined assault.

"I got you!" Naruto cried as two large skeletal arms erupted from his back and grabbed hold of the two Taijutsu experts before they were carried away again. "Where are the others?" he questioned.

The look on Guy's face was grim, "I have no idea they must have been taken by one of those." He said pointing at the mini tornados.

"You don't say." Naruto said sarcastically rolling his eyes at the Jonin's overtly obvious response.

"Naruto this is not the time." Lee reprimanded. "We need to save our comrades."

"It would help if we knew where said comrades are you know." Naruto replied mentally cursing their current predicament.

"It's just as my vision foretold." Shion mumbled.

"Excuse me did you say something." Naruto spoke looking down at her. "You really need to stop whispering so much."

"I saw this." Shion stated more loudly this time. "I foresaw this happening in one of my visions." She looked at him warily. "The one I told you about at the temple, I saw you and your friends perish."

Guy and Lee stiffened at her words, their expressions growing even more forlorn.

Naruto's face fell, "Seriously you're still going on about that." He stated in disbelief. "Okay you know what let me take the training wheels off then we'll see who perishes." He said raising his right hand which began to glow dimly with a golden hue as energy began to gather in it.

"What are you doing?" Shion inquired a bit scared partially because the appendage was so close to her.

"Putting a big question mark over your alleged prophetic ability IP Man," He answered, his hand glowing brilliantly now a soft humming sound emitting from the concentrated energy. "Here we go." Naruto declared clenching his fist as a golden ring materialized around it. He extended his fist towards the sky and shot a powerful blast of golden energy at his foe.

"**FOOL!"** Moryo's snarl boomed from the heavens as several dragons shot their own purple beams which converged in a larger one and met in an epic collision with its golden opposition generating a powerful shockwave that ringed out across the countryside that downing trees and tors in all directions, as the two rival forces tried to overpower each other, the entire valley being illuminated in golden and purple light. The energy of both attacks reverberating for miles, Guy, Shion & Lee, watched on in shock as surrounding mountains began to collapse in on themselves and entire forests were flattened, the rolling sounds of the energy battle washing over them.

"This guy's got gumption I'll give him that." Naruto said impressed with his opponent's power. "About damn time I got a decent work out." He said as he added more power into his own attack and began to push the purple beam back.

"_He's overpowering him."_ Shion stared wide eyed as her protector gained the upper hand.

"_This boy is stronger than I thought."_ Guy looked on in wonder as a boy the same age as his apprentice held his own against a millennium old demon.

"_Naruto-san you're so awesome. You're youth shines far brighter than that monster's wickedness."_ Lee thought gazing with stars in his eyes as his comrade drove back their foe's attack.

A deep rumble echoed above them followed by the roar of the demon. **"INSOLENT WRETCH!"** several more dragons materialized and shot beams adding into the original one allowing it to eclipse its previous size. Now easily dwarfing Naruto's it rapidly pushed the yellow beam downwards heading straight for them.

"Woah!" Naruto gawked feeling the weight of a thousand suns crashing on top of him, the demon's display of power was beyond amazing.

"It's over!" Shion choked seeing the beam approach them.

"Guy Sensei!" Lee sputtered looking warily at his teacher.

Guy gritted his teeth at the approaching disaster his mind seemingly going through an internal war of sorts. Finally sighing in resignation, he turned towards his student a grim look on his face as he did so. "Lee, I want you to take the priestess and get away from here. I'll make sure Naruto joins you shortly."

Lee looked at him questioningly, "Sensei what do you plan on doing?"

His master seemed hesitant to answer but then strengthened his resolve and did so, "I'm going to unleash the Gate of Death!" he flinched when Lee gasped but continued nonetheless. "I'll distract this monster and hold him off while you guys escape."

"BUT GUY SENSEI IF YOU DO THAT, YOU'LL…." Lee couldn't finish the sentence as a painful sob wracked through him.

Guy turned away from him his head lowered, "That's the least of our worries at this point."

Shion watched the master student interaction in anguish, "Even if we somehow manage to escape, Moryo would just hunt us down again. It's just as the vision showed me. None of us will survive this, no one can."

"You guys done feeling sorry for yourselves yet?" Naruto interrupted their musings gaining their attention.

"Does it really matter?" Shion said her eyes downcast in depression.

"There you go all gloomy again." Naruto rolled his eyes. "Seriously did you forget my earlier lesson already?"

Shion had it, "WE'RE ABOUT TO DIE. HOW ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO FEEL?" she screamed in his face.

Naruto looked at her incredulously, "Have a little more faith girl." Then he looked at the other two still held by his skeletal hands. "Same goes for you guys."

Guy looked at him confused. "I don't understand."

"No, you don't." Naruto turned away his raised hand suddenly growing brighter to the point it seemed like he was holding a mini sun in it. "And you never will." He stated looking at the incoming blast now only a few meters away.

"**BEGONE!"** Moryo's growlboomed across the planet.

"BECAUSE I AM BEYOND UNDERSTANDING." Naruto screamed, the others eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as Naruto's attack multiplied many times in size without pause and swiftly overpowered Moryo's malevolent energy sending it back. His comrades were gawked slack jawed for the millionth time that day as Naruto's beam shot straight up incinerating each and every demonic dragon and directly into the demonic clouds tearing through them causing the demon to let out a ear bursting howl of agony like that of a wounded animal, as the golden beam of light ate at it.

"I AM THE GREATEST!" Naruto declared throwing yet more into his beam making it magnify even further eating away at the demon energy amidst the demons.

"**NOOOOOO!"** the demon roared in outrage and denial as the last shreds of its presence was extinguished and it was overwhelmed and consumed by the golden light of Naruto's beam, his cry of agony being drowned out by the blast which seemed to spread across the Earth's atmosphere drowning the planet in its brilliant golden light.

The sky returning to normal color and the light from the two beams feuding for dominance fading, the results of the fray were quickly revealed to the audience. With Guy and Lee staring down the hellish, smoking mountainside, ravaged forests and overall devastated landscape and then back towards the priestess and her bodyguard, they saw Naruto standing tall with his hand still pointed skywards, while the girl's arms laying still in his chest the boy's display having been too much for her too take in leaving her flustered, his left arm was still draped around her preventing her from falling.

"Now that's entertainment." Naruto finally looking down and smiling at them with a wide grin, he focused his gaze on Shion. "Told you I'd prove your visions were flukes didn't I IP Man?"

A low moan escaping her lips, Shion suddenly collapsed into his arms the day's events finally catching up to her.

"Easy now." Naruto said as he retreated back down to the surface with the others gently settling the exhausted priestess on the ground while releasing his hold on Guy and Lee the skeletal appendages retreating into his back. "You okay?" he asked the priestess.

The girl's eyes fluttered open and the priestess looked up at the young man holding her, whom she saw was watching her inquisitively. She wanted to speak but was too drained physically, mentally and emotionally to muster any coherent form of speech.

Lee on the other hand seemed to be on the moon, "NARUTO THAT WAS AWESOME! YOUR YOUTH TRIUMPHED OVER THAT FIEND. HOW I WISH I COULD REPLICATE EVEN A FRACTION OF YOUR GREATNESS." He said teary eyed enthralled by his comrade's power.

Naruto for his part was a bit taken aback and unnerved by the thick browed circus freak's enthusiasm. "Yeah I'm great I know. Take it easy." He raised his hands in a placating gesture hoping the other boy got the hint and tone down all that hero worship.

Lee seemed oblivious to it however, "NARUTO ALLOW ME THE HONOUR TO TEST MY OWN FLAMES OF YOUTH AGAINST YOUR GREATNESS ONCE WE RETURN TO THE VILLAGE." Lee pleaded getting into Naruto's face stars in his eyes.

Naruto was honestly freaked out now and gave the response he deemed the most fit, "Pass!"

"Huh!" Lee gasped the stars in his eyes vanishing giving way to tears of sorrow a dark cloud of gloom appearing over his head as he fell to the ground hugging his knees in depression.

"Freak!" Naruto mouthed before addressing Guy. "You think the others survived." He asked.

Guy who had been smiling at their banter frowned as he was reminded of his missing comrades. "I'm not sure. To be honest the last I heard when that lightning struck the cliff were their screams, after that all I saw was Lee and me being caught up in that storm with no sign of them." His fists clenched as dread consumed him, fearing the worst.

Naruto saw the play of emotions on his superior's face but didn't comment on it. Instead he turned back to Shion bending down he tried to gently pull her to her feet but to his dismay she wouldn't budge. "What's wrong?" he asked, it was then that he noticed that her body trembling. "Hey!" he said shaking her a bit trying to break her out of her stupor. "What's the matter girl?" he asked once more. As if response to his actions she looked up at him with lifeless eyes making him frown. "It's not over is it."

"No!" came her dread filled reply.


	7. The Land of Demons Arc Part 3

The Land of Demons Arc Part 3

Land of Demons

A mighty gust of wind hit them forcing them backwards. They all turned around and gasped.

They saw small purple particles of energy from all around them were moving towards and converging at a spot about a hundred meters from their location into something comparable in size to a human and began to form into the shape of one, which had gang's eyes widen in shock. The energy compressed into the outline of large humanoid man standing at a tall seven feet with a lanky build, two large bird like wings formed on his back with a large horn protruding from his head with a blunt end.

"What the hell!?" Naruto breathed in exasperation.

The incorporeal being of purple energy opened its eyes which were basically two light pink slits and looked up. The moment he did so, purple lightning bolts started to shoot off of him, scorching the ground wherever they struck and kicking up dust clouds, a sight that startled the individuals currently present.

Guy, blinked a few times in astonishment, then shook his head in disbelief and frowned deeply. "I don't like the feel of this."

"I hear you." Naruto agreed, in all honesty he thought he overdid it with his last attack, the demon's case file was closed in his mind but apparently this entity was made up off tougher more stubborn stuff than he'd given it credit for. He looked at Shion, "I don't suppose you know any Wing-Chun. Do you IP Man?"

"Huh!" Shion glanced at him in confusion.

"Forget I asked." Naruto focusing his eyes back at their foe. "Looks it's time for Round 4 then." He got into his battle stance.

Another spark of purple lightning shooting off of him, the new Moryu began sizing up his quarry properly. **"To think a bunch of insignificant whelps the likes of you have managed to give me so much trouble. I'm having trouble forgiving myself really."** He snarled.

"BOOHOO!" Naruto spat back at him in a mocking fashion.

"You idiot don't provoke him." Shion berated him scared out of her wits.

"Keep on your guard everyone." Guy advised him and Lee already in their taijutsu stances standing side by side.

"**I grow tired of you lot."** The demon drawled, flapping his winds he sent a powerful ground breaking gale of wind towards them.

"Tsk amateur." Naruto said activating his Byakugan emitting a pulse of chakra which countered and cancelled out Moryo's attack.

"LOOK OUT!" Guy warned as Moryo appeared above having closed the distance in a millisecond Naruto prepared to decapitate the young Otsutsuki. It was pointless however as Moryo's wing only swiped at thin air both Naruto and Shion having disappeared. Guy and Lee quickly fell back to put distance between themselves and their dangerous foe.

"Lee, get ready." Guy told his pupil.

"Yes, Guy Sensei!" Lee affirmed, the teacher student duo both activated the Sixth Gate and leapt at the monster double teaming on him. To their surprise despite his large size the demon was surprisingly agile easily dodging, side stepping, ducking and parrying their strikes at times bending and twisting its body in unnatural ways to avoid a simultaneous combo with the serpent like grace of a snake. They upped the pace attacking him far more aggressively yet with its supernatural reflexes and flexibility the demon easily stayed two steps ahead of them at all times. Their blows were being evaded with such speed and accuracy that to the onlooker it seemed as if the demon was simply fazing through the forest of punches and kicks aimed at it continuously backtracking across the ravaged landscape forcing them to pursue.

"_He's trying to trick us into punching ourselves out."_ Guy realized mid attack. "Lee hold him off." He said jumping up into the air.

"Got it!" Lee said as he began to continued his assault this time one on one against the energy being which continued to dodge effortlessly. Lee wasn't deterred and kept punching and kicking at it with growing ferocity.

"Asakujaku!" Guy's voice echoed from the sky accompanied by a rain shower of flames that descended on the fighting duo.

"You're done for." Lee said retreating at the flames approached their target.

The demon looked up at the incoming fire completely unperturbed.** "Pathetic!"** once more with a lazy flap of its wings he unleashed a powerful gust of wind that dispersed the flames.

"No way!" Lee said in disbelief.

"Lee look out." Guy yelled landing a short distance away.

"What!?" Lee blinked in confusion before what he would later describe as being hit by a monster truck but was really Moryo appearing right beside him at hypersonic speed and casually backhanding him sending him sailing through the air, bouncing several times over the charred ground before skidding to a stop knocked out cold.

"Lee!' Guy yelled rushing over to his student only to be intercepted by the demon. Avoiding a swipe of one of those deadly wings Guy aimed a kick at its side legs only for the demon to rise up the ground and its head morphing to one of those shadow dragons from before shoot a powerful beam at close range at the Taijutsu user. It was a testament to Guy's training and reflexes that he had already moved a considerable distance away by this point, sighing in relief considering the charred crater the beam had created.

Standing back on his feet Guy sized up his opponent. _"None of our attacks are working on this guy. He's fast and easily able to see through our strategies. To top all that his monstrous chakra and reserves grant him greater firepower as well as the ability to outlast us even if we pressure him as a group. His life force is also incredibly strong considering Naruto put him down twice and he keeps coming back. Looks like I've got to kick it up a notch."_ He thought as a blue vapor suddenly surrounded him his chakra rising astronomically.** "Seventh Gate of Wonder Open!"**

The demon looked at him quizzically then reared back as Guy appeared in front of him his punch missing him by an inch, the very next moment though his head exploded from the sheer air pressure the punch generated. Not giving the demon any respite Guy resumed his onslaught battering the demons non corporeal being with a series of punches and kicks most of them tearing right through the monster scattering its energy into the air like small dust particles. Guy kicked the monstrosity into the air and followed continuing to mercilessly beat on his opponent as he did so. To the onlooking observer it seemed as if Guy was throwing him around like a rag doll in circles. Wrapping the jumbled mesh of energy with his bandages Guy grabbed onto it and in a spinning motion propelled them headfirst into the ground. Unfortunately, right before collision the being dissolved into small particles of energy escaping from Guy's trap ruining the Taijutsu user's technique.

"Darn it!" Guy said as he landed on the ground skidding a short distance away from the where the energy particles were reforming into the entity, the strain of the Seventh Gate beginning to take its toll causing him to breathe heavily.

"**Foolish mortal you really believe that a simple technique like that would work against the likes of me?"** the demon mocked enjoying the look of frustration on Guy's face.

"I'll show you a technique." Guy declared not appreciating the demon's dismissal of his abilities, holding his hands out into a fist gathering a massive amount of air pressure into it, he formed the hand seal for tiger.** "Hirudora!"** he shouted launching an enormous amount of air pressure in the shape of a giant tiger faced specter at the energy demon.

"**Impressive!"** the demon commended impressed with the challenger's persistence.** "But not enough!"** he flapped his wings once more only this time he generated a hurricane of immense proportion that on impact literally shattered and absorbed Guy's technique as it made its way to its victim.

"Unbelievable!" Guy gasped as he fell to his knees in exhaustion the blue aura around him vanishing. "This being is a cut above any I have fought in my life." He could only watch on helplessly as the tornado got closer and closer.

"Giving up already." An invisible force suddenly hit the twister breaking through and dispersing it before Guy's eyes, just as Naruto Otsutsuki appeared next to him.

"You look like shit sensei!" Naruto commented observing Guy's condition.

Guy smirked at his words though internally glad that the boy hadn't abandoned him. "Well our adversary is no joke." He replied still sitting on his knees.

"Yeah I gathered that much." Naruto frowned as he gazed back at the demon which didn't seem too happy to see him.

"He's easily the most formidable foe I've ever faced." Guy stated then looked up at the pale faced boy. "Are you sure you can fight him? We could always retreat and come back with reinforcements."

Naruto shook his head his frown being replaced with a smirk. "Nah I got this." He said walking a few steps forward. "I see you survived my previous attack." He said addressing Moryo.

The demon didn't reply instead its arms morphed into two demonic dragons and launched towards the Otsutsuki.

"Cat caught your tongue." The boy said as he decapitated the two beasts with a bone bade only for them to burst into smoke while stumps reformed into two new heads with beams charging in their mouths.

"WATCH OUT!" Guy yelled in panic.

"No worries!" Naruto replied his activated Byakugan expelling a shockwave the repelled the entities causing the beams to implode resulting in an explosion of energy the blast heading straight towards the demon.

The demon neutralized it with a simple wave of its hand. Then in a blink of an eye was in front of the duo intending to impale the weakened man with its wing only for the albino to sever said wing earning a screech from the monster before it jumped away.

"Nice try but its not going to work." Naruto said but then his eyes widened when he saw that instead of dispelling into energy the broken wing morphed into thousands of small leaches like creatures which fell towards them, grabbing Guy he hurriedly escaped incinerating the critters with a fire ball as he retreated.

Landing several meters away Naruto let go of Guy who having recovered somewhat managed to stand on his feet.

"He's good!" Naruto said watching as the demons wing reformed. "Very good!" he added.

Guy nodded. "We've got our work cut out for us." He said a gravelly.

Naruto looked at him in confusion, "We?"

Guy looked back at him, "Well of course we have to stop him." Wasn't that obvious.

Naruto shook his head, "No I mean I know he has to be stopped, but whoever said I needed your help to do it." He asked.

Guy couldn't help but express his exasperation, "Naruto this is no time to mess around. You've already fought this guy twice and failed to kill him both times. It's obvious by this point that conventional methods won't work on him."

Naruto quirked a brow, "Then I don't suppose you have any unconventional methods do you Guy sensei?" he queried folding his arms.

Guy started to say something but then closed his mouth dumbstruck realizing he'd been had.

Naruto chuckled, "I thought as much." He said stepping forward once more. "You better sit this one out sensei. This is a bit above your pay grade."

Guy frowned at the jab. "That was a very unyouthful statement, Naruto. I thought I taught you better than this."

"You cast me aside." Naruto replied forlornly not breaking his pace.

"You kept disobeying orders." Guy stated Naruto's words stinging a bit.

"And I never would. Besides we only had about five lessons. Hardly a platform for a teacher student bond." Naruto deadpanned. "It doesn't matter now either way." He said halting in his tracks a few feet away from their enemy.

"And what is that supposed to mean? Guy asked.

Naruto looked at Moryo, "Because when I left you, I was merely a student, now I am the master." He said extending a bone blade from his knuckle, generating his chakra into it and then swiped a slicing chakra wave at the demon.

"**Don't you learn anything, that's not going to work."** Moryo stated sending another twister to cancel Naruto's attack only to be perplexed when said attack sliced through his own forcing him to move to the side to avoid being cut in half.

"Hi nice day." Startled Moryo had no time to react when Naruto' fist crashed against its face shattering his head into a burst of purple energy spilling into the air. "You're pretty soft for a demon." Naruto mocked but the grin disappeared from his face when he felt the energy wrap around and swallow his hand trapping him in place.

"WHA!?" Naruto blinked in confusion and horror as it morphed into a demonic dragon head with his fist in its mouth. The entire body then morphed into an even bigger more bestial form with several draconic entities emerging from the upper half of its body, the chest and shoulders becoming far broader and defined, its wings growing larger with two dragon heads at their ends, the fingers thinning and lengthening into claws, its feet taking the form of those similar to a hawk and a large reptilian tail sprouting from its back.

"Great just great." Naruto rolled his eyes now hanging suspended his fist still in the beast's mouth. The next thing he knew he was caught in a crushing bear hug by the monster intent on squeezing the life out of him. Gritting his teeth due to the uneasiness Naruto's eyes never left his opponent, "You're really full of yourself, aren't you? Big strong demon, hard to kill. Can become anything you want. You believe you're invincible, don't you?"

"**I don't just believe I know."** The demon the demon replied his voice a reptilian hiss.** "NOW PERISH!"** he tightened his grip exerting far more pressure determined to make the boy scream in pain as he broke him. To his utter disappointment and surprise the boy instead broke into fits of laughter the punishing hold, apparently not affecting him at all. He glared down at the boy with what Naruto deciphered was a demon's curiosity.

Naruto looked up at him still giggling lightly, "You know I've been waiting for this" he said making the demon snarl. "I've run out of potential opponents to test myself against since lately so the fact you're actually making me try." He said then scrunched his eyebrows together as if reconsidering. "Almost."

The demon snarled each of the hydras pointing their mouths at him balls of beams forming in them.

"Ohhh, I'm so scared." Naruto fake sobbed. "Not!" the demon grunted in pain as the bones from Naruto's ribcage pierced his chest tearing through and emerging out his back. "And now for the second act." Generating a powerful electrical discharge from his body he electrocuted the beast via his bones the demons echoing across the valley as each of the hydras exploded due to the sheer voltage of electricity, the demon lost its grip on Naruto its hands falling to the sides the static energy overriding his will while it convulsed, it started losing control over its noncorporeal body the currents disrupting the matter holding it together causing him to break apart, the brightness of Naruto's attack luminating everything.

"You're done for." Naruto whispered as he upped the voltage the demon's roars of protest skyrocketing then fading entirely as it was electrocuted to oblivion.

"How's that for an electrifying experience." Naruto quipped as his bones receded into his body. "What do you think Sensei." He called out to his former short-lived mentor.

Guy had a look of uneasiness on his face, "You sure that was enough to end him." He asked skeptically.

"Beats me." Naruto shrugged. "Don't see him anywhere."

"Neither do I." Guy admitted.

"I agree it's a bit anticlimactic." Naruto frowned before shaking his head in dismissal. "But oh well." He said right before being carried away by another shadow dragon emerging from beneath him.

"NARUTO!"

"For crying out loud. WHY WONT YOU DIE ALREADY." Naruto protested slicing the beast in half before several more emerged from the ground and began attacking him biting at him and firing beams at him. "For crying out loud we already went through this routine. It doesn't work."

"**But this will."** Moryo in his humanoid form suddenly materialized and sent a series of whirlwinds at him.

"Talk about redundant." Naruto groaned as he retreated from the attack only for his danger sense to go off. A quick midair twist of his body is what saved him from being cleaved in half by another Moryo wielding a purple energy blade. "You can duplicate?"

"**Astute observation."** The demon swiped at him again but Naruto had already moved a considerable distance away slicing two approaching dragons as he did so. He glanced back and saw the Moryo from before still where he'd escaped from him. Naruto frowned when the two doppelgangers each spawned a dozen more clones which then surrounded Naruto in a circle.

Naruto smirked, "Bring it." He said as long bone claws emerged from the knuckles of each hand and then began to heat up and smoke giving them a red glow.

The Moryo's charged at him.

Naruto was forced to block the energy blades from two of them pushing him back slightly engaging in a stalemate with them, another attempted to stab him in the back only to be impaled by several bone spikes sprouting out of said back causing it to dispel. "Don't underestimate me." Naruto said his claws glowing a molten red the heat intensifying to the point that he cut through their blades and decapitated them, only for the heads to reform.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled moving to the side avoiding the dragon attacking from overhead. "Too slow." A dozen of them came at him in a group attacking viciously, however Naruto was easily able to avoid their strikes, similarly to how Moryo had played with Guy and Lee earlier, the demon now found the tables turned as he couldn't land one hit on the boy every kick, punch, swipe of his wings or blade only met an afterimage as despite being crowded as well as the close proximity the boy was able to move away at the opportune time pulling back his head, twisting his body, ducking low with such precision, dexterity and timing that the demons blows at times were missing by a mere centimeter. The demon snarled; the boy was maneuvering his way through his onslaught beautifully he was loath to admit.

"This is getting boring." Naruto commented in a bored tone activating his Byakugan he released a tremendous chakra pulse which collided with the clones sending them flying away from him. He didn't get much respite however as he was immediately forced to dodge several energy beams. "Give me a break." He decided to fall back to the ground but fate didn't seem to be smiling on him this day as on landing he was forced to jump away to avoid being impaled by a lightning enhanced energy spear which exploded on impact leaving a deep crater in its wake. "That was close." Naruto exhaled only to see several more heading his way. "Oh, come on." Naruto said running for his life as a shower of lightning energy spears & energy blasts rained down on him, coming to a stop when he saw several incoming wind hurricanes from the opposite side. Cursing his predicament, he teleported away to catch a breather.

"_Where did he go?"_ Guy wondered; eyes filled with worry for his one-time student.

* * *

"Shit! That guy's tough." Naruto said to himself as he appeared in cave a few miles away from the battlefield, panting lightly. "Better kick it up a notch myself. I can't afford to play around now." He said as his breathing returned to normal, loosening his tense muscles he allowed his body to relax while he sat down in a cross-legged posture and focused.

Five minutes later the Moryo clones showed up. Looking around they found no sign of his presence not that it mattered, they knew he was here.** "SHOW YOURSELF MORTAL!"** the one in the front called out its voice booming loudly. Receiving no response, it growled,** "So be it."** Charging lightning their palms the demonic horde prepared to reduce the entire valley to dust in order to draw the boy out.

"Don't bother." The demons ceased what they were doing when Naruto flew out of the cave he was hiding in and came to a stop opposite to them.

"**Do you surrender boy?"** the demon(s) questioned their collective voices echoing the same statement, was extremely creepy in Naruto's opinion. **"If so, your death shall be swift."**

"HA HA very nice, you should have been a comedian." Naruto spat, sharp bones sprouting from all parts of his body each covered each covered with one of the five elements. Before the clones or dragons could react, the bones shot out and impaled them cutting, blowing, breaking, slicing or incinerating them depending on the element.

"No resurrections this time." Naruto stated gathering chakra in his fist he unleashed another beam of chakra at the demons remains not letting up until every single fiber of it was obliterated from the face of the earth.

After the last shreds of the monster's essence was eliminated Naruto gave a deep sigh of relief, "Glad that's done with."

"NARUTO!" Naruto looked down in alarm and smiled when he saw Guy approaching in the distance. He called out to his old teacher. "Hey Sensei how'd you rate that."

Coming to a stop Guy started to answer him but then paused as something else caught his attention.

Naruto scowled not amused at being ignored especially when he was being so civil. "WHATS THE MATTER. CAT CAUGHT YOUR TONGUE. I'M ASKING HOW DID I DO." He shouted hoping to gain his former teacher's attention.

"NARUTO BEHIND YOU!" Guy's shouted.

"WHAT?" Naruto said before sensing the huge surge of chakra behind him. "You got to be kidding me." He sighed and turned around; the particles of energy were gathering to gathering once more only this time there were like billions of them coming together into a mass that had already eclipsed the size of the highest peak in the region.

Naruto couldn't help but chuckle, "This guy." He snickered as the mass continued grow and take shape and soon, he found himself face to face with a giant Moryo standing easily over two hundred feet. "My my and here I thought I was the versatile one."

The demon didn't offer a reply instead flapped his right wing generating an air wave which to Naruto's surprise manages to push him back a few meters before he caught himself, which was saying something considering the pressure literally uprooted and carried away the surrounding peaks.

Unfortunately for Guy his torturous training sessions while indeed making him formidable didn't grant him the physical constitution of his extra-terrestrial student and as a result both he and the still unconscious Lee were helplessly carried away.

"SENSEI!" Naruto yelled extending a claw hand to grab them again but his attempt was foiled when numerous shadow dragons shot from behind him coiling around the skeletal limb restraining it. Naruto glared back at the giant and saw its hand stretched out the dragons germinating from it. "Damn you let go." Naruto demanded trying to break the giant's hold on him. "I said, LET GO." He yelled more bones sprouting from the skeletal hand severing the dragons looped around it, forming another big skeletal hand Naruto struck at his opponent only for Moryo to casually catch it with his fist.

"You've gotten stronger." Naruto noted before he felt the demon pull him forward dragging into his its incoming right hand. "Not happening." Naruto said his other skeletal hand morphing into a large blade with which he chopped off the approaching arm.

The demon grunted at the influx of pain from his dismembered appendage losing his grip on Naruto's other hand backing away a few steps. It barely got time to recover when a golden beam of light tore through its chest and out its back making it cry out in agony, falling to its knees the beam still piercing him.

"What too much for you, Big Guy?" Naruto taunted, enjoying the demon gasps of pain only for his joy to be short lived when those gasps were replaced by short chuckles of laughter. "For crying out loud what does it take." Naruto groaned massaging his temples in frustration.

He didn't get much time to ponder when the giant leapt towards him ignoring the beam slicing through its torso, Naruto soon found himself trapped once again in a punishing grip this time in the giant's hands.

"We've already been through this." Naruto said ignoring the crushing grip threatening to grind his body to dust. "It ain't gonna work." He said several bones once again stabbing into the demon's hands only this time the demon neither reacted nor let up. Naruto blinked in surprise. "Okay…how about this." Lightning danced across his body electrocuting the giant with tremendous ferocity, the demon merely sneered at the boy responding by clasping his hands even more tightly making Naruto flinch.

"Fine your tougher than I gave you credit for." The Otsutuki conceded. "Guess I've got to kick it up a notch." Flaring his chakra monumentally Naruto was able to break free of the demon's hands moving back a safe distance his Byakugan glowing a light brown Naruto literally tore the numerous rock formations in the canyon from the ground levitating them into the air increasing their density via his Earth Manipulation abilities making them harden considerably, once done he showered the demon with a hail of stone and debris.

Moryo responded by sprouting four large dragons from his back which destroyed the incoming projectiles with energy beams.

"Good! But not enough." Naruto stated as he began to hurl the rocks at a faster pace, allowing them to get past the beams.

Moryo grunted when a huge boulder impacted its chest forcing him backwards ceasing his beams, the momentary lapse proved detrimental he was subjected to the full fury of Naruto's assault snarling as the fast moving stones hit his body tearing into it, denting and disfiguring it, his wings receiving were sporting several holes in them. He attempted to use his damaged wings to swat away the storm of stone, but before he could do so his head was flung back when another large rock landed clean on his chin dazing him and knocking him back leaving him even more open to the shower of gravel which imbedded themselves into the demons being.

"DIE MOTHERUCKER!" Naruto roared summoning pieces of Earth from far and wide and throwing them at the speed of bullets at the beast in an unrelenting onslaught from all sides that dropped the demon to its knees with no room for escape covering shielding its face from the ongoing blitz. "Yeah that's right you're going down." Naruto boasted.

Moryo growled tired of these games.** "ENOUGH!"** he roared summoning a meters long purple chakra saber in his hand he swiped right clean through all the incoming debris.

"Woah!" Naruto was forced to cancel his technique and lean back Matrix Style as the slicing chakra wave missed him by an inch cutting several mountains in the distance in half. "That was close." He shifted upright once more.

"**THIS IS THE END FOR YOU!"** Naruto managed to move away in time saving himself from being bisected from Moryo's vertical slash. Not letting up the demon channeled a stream of lightning from at the boy from his sword.

"Child's play." Naruto bragged, Moryo's eyes widening in shock when the boy literally caught the currents in his hands and deflecting it back at him. "Take that."

Moryo grunted repelling the lightning away with his blade the bolts striking and leaving a big crater ina nearby mountain.** "You're stronger than I thought."** He admitted.

"Yeah I get that a lot." Naruto said as if it wasn't news to him.

"**But don't get ahead of yourself."** The demon glared at him. **"Compared to me you're just an inconsequential upstart who's way in over his head."**

"Is that a fact." Naruto said a lance of bone the same length as Moryo's forming around his left arm. "Well why don't you come here and prove it then." He challenged gesturing him forward with his right.

Overcome by fury at the boy's attitude the demon lunged at him and soon became engaged in a sword fight, the constant clashing of blades resounded in the sky.

"You've got power." Naruto complimented backing up while constantly defending against Moryo's heavy strikes. "But slow and predictable at the same time."

"**YOU BRAT!"** Moryo yelled crashing his blade down on Naruto's putting the whole weight of his body into the strike, unfortunately for him both Naruto and his blade refused to budge, the two beings caught standoff.

"**GIVE UP BOY!"** Moryo said driving both his giant wings down to skewer the boy.

"Nuh! Uh!" The boy replied two large skeletal hands emerging from his back and latching onto the demon's appendages the sharp pointy fingers digging into them making the demon cringe in discomfort. "You're nothing. I eat guys like you for breakfast every day." Naruto continued the taunt him.

"**SILENCE!"** the demon's blade charged up with lightning sparks of energy emitting from it stinging Naruto's flesh.

"That's annoying." Naruto said wrinkling his nose in displeasure coating his own blade with wind chakra which began to overpower Moryo's lightning due to the elemental advantage.

The giant eyes smoldered as he gave all he had to finish the boy once and for all.

"Yeah not happening." Naruto said raising his chakra he roared cutting clean through his opponent's blade chopping off both his arms in the process. "YEAH! THAT'S MORE LIKE IT." Naruto cheered.

Moryo examined the stumps where his arms had been,** "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"** he hissed in rage as his arms reformed, never before had he been humiliated in such a manner. Not even when he was sealed.

"Oh, so you do know some contemporary insults." Naruto said voice full of sarcasm. "And here I thought you were one of those elderly demons from prehistoric times."

The demon was clenching its fists trembling madly his chakra dancing around him like of sparks of lightning. **"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU."** He bellowed creating a giant purple sphere of energy easily twice his own size in his hands and threw it at the Otsutsuki.

"Two can play at that game." Naruto said as he watched the incoming sphere, he created his own variant completely black in color and threw it at Moryo's. the two balls of destruction collided beginning yet another struggle between the two powerhouses as both tried to overpower each other.

"**YOU HAVE THE GAL TO STAND BEFORE ME YOU HERETIC!"** Moryo barked focusing all his power into his death ball making it start to push Naruto's backwards.

"I have the gal to do a lot more than that." Naruto retorted empowering his own attack turning the tide once more. "You're gonna lose to me right here right now." He announced his Byakugan activating as he used its repulsion powers to assist in driving the demon's technique back at it.

"**Don't be so full of yourself boy."** Moryo hissed morphing into his hydra form once more firing several beams into his attack giving it more power and pushing it forward to counteract Naruto's.

The two spheres continued to war as neither fighter was letting up both giving all they had to one up each other. The shockwaves reverberating across the countryside, surrounding mountains began to collapse in on themselves and entire forests were flattened, the rolling sounds of the energy battle washing over the continent.

"I'll hand it to you, you've got heart." Naruto conceded praising his foe while simultaneously fending off his attack. "But against me its all pointless." He said closing his right hand into a fist and shot his signature golden beam into his orb using it to fuel it yet further.

The demonic heads screeched as it began to lose ground several more of them manifested and launched beams into their energy globe but try as they might they could no longer match Naruto's seemingly limitless reserve of power. In desperation several dragons broke away and instead made for the Otsutsuki hoping to catch him while he was distracted. It was for naught as half way towards their target they exploded on contact with his Byakugan's repulsive shield.

"Nice strategy." Naruto chuckled at the futility of the demon's effort. "Too bad it didn't work not that anything else would either. Anyway, say goodnight." With a loud battle cry he unleashed the full force of his chakra sending both his and Moryo's orb breaking through its opposing beams and ramming straight into it.

Moryo cried in agony as the two balls exploded with him at their center the resulting explosion devouring him completely. Naruto shielded himself as the force of the blast shook the very Earth itself. As the smoke cleared Naruto saw Moryo still in his huge form but having reverted into a humanoid once more, however he was badly hurt with the wings destroyed, missing an arm and leg as well as half its face, he was sporting several holes in its chest. On top of all this he was knocked out. Nonetheless Naruto knew he had to act fast well aware that this was merely a temporary setback for the demon if the chakra gathering in his wounds was any indication to go by.

"Time for the final act." Naruto said hating his assault, several thick tendrils of white chakra spread out from his body extending they began to wrap around the giant. "Get ready for the ride of your lifetime." Naruto said taking off into the air taking the giant with him. Naruto raced up into the sky dragging the demon behind him moving past the clouds, tearing through the several layers of the earths atmosphere before crossing its orbit into the expanse of space. "And now we enter the endgame." He said covering himself with a force field of chakra for protection as they entered an asteroid belt while leaving the demon exposed, he headed towards his destination.

Ironically the numerous rocks hitting Moryo's head brought him back to his senses.** "Where am I?"** then observing his surroundings and current disposition roared in outrage.** "YOU PATHETIC MORTAL. HOW DARE YOU."** He growled.

"Yeah sorry we're in space, I can't hear you." Naruto explained. "Oh, look there's Mercury." He said pointing to the gray rocky planet as they crossed it.

"**You wretch let go of me."** The demon ordered.

"For the last time I can't hear you." Naruto stated shielding his eyes as both of them were bathed in a brilliant yellow light. "We're here."

The demon turned towards the source of the lightning its eyes widening in horror as the fiery ball of the sun came into view. Even at this distance he could feel the intense heat from the burning sphere of hot gases.

"Yeah take a good look at it because that's where you'll be at momentarily." Naruto stated straight towards the ball of fire.

"**YOU FOOL YOU'LL KILL US BOTH."** The demon protested struggling against his bindings trying to summon one of his dragons to beam him free but the thick chakra binds holding him seemed to have cut off access to all of his techniques.

"No just you." Naruto replied as they neared the sun's orbit.

"**NO, I REFUSE TO LET THIS BE THE END OF ME." The demon barked.**

"Too bad!" Naruto said grasping the chakra cords, then with strength that betrayed his size he wrenched the demon towards him amidst Moryo's cries and protests and began swinging him in a circular pattern picking up momentum.

"Sayanora!" Naruto said flinging the screaming demon into the Sun's orbit.

"**NO, I WON'T LET THIS BE THE END OF ME."** Moryo roared morphing into his original hydra form the dragons trying to grab onto anything to resist the sun's pull. When that didn't work, they began shooting beams at the sun to counteract its force of attraction and propel the demon away from its orbit, unfortunately for it the attack was completely absorbed by the blazing inferno. **"THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING."** The demon shouted as its form started to get incinerated by the sun's heat, **"DAMN YOU!"** he looked back at his executioner one last time, the shit eating grin on that pale face driving him over the edge. In a fit of rage and madness caused from the knowledge that his death was at hand he defiantly shot one last beam at the Otsutsuki, sadly due to the powerful field of the sun the attack didn't travel far before it dissipated.

"**DAMN YOU!"** Moryo screamed as he was entirely consumed and exterminated by the smoldering flames erasing all traces of his essence once and for all.

Naruto finally breathed a deep sigh of relief, "TRY COMING BACK FROM THAT BITCH." he shouted than gazed around observing the endlessness that surrounded him admiring the millions of celestial bodies and bright lights of the Milky Wave Galaxy. "Man, it's been a while since I've been here." He mused, he could say that the demon broke free and the fight took longer than expected, that would give him ample time to traverse this place, one of his favorite past times when he wasn't training. "And after our last fight I doubt those two will be showing up any time soon to ruin the mood." He pondered the idea growing increasingly appealing by the second before being dismissed entirely. "Nah! I need to go check up on IP Man and call it a day." He said to himself then vanished.

* * *

Land of Demons Temple

Shion was sitting by the waterfall hugging her knees in distress when Naruto appeared next to her. Alarmed by his sudden appearance she eeped in surprise and fell back.

"Yo!" Naruto greeted her grinning happily.

"YOU IDIOT! DON'T JUMP JUST JUMP ME LIKE THAT." She scolded him her face flush, breathing heavily, for a moment there she'd thought it was another enemy sent to kill her.

"Your welcome." Naruto replied glaring at her accusingly. Seriously he'd fought a powerful eons old demonic entity to save her life and this is the thanks he gets.

"You've got some nerve." Shion spat taking a moment to calm her nerves as her heartbeat returned to normal.

"Seriously IP Man you're one big scaredy cat." Naruto said laughing lightly making her scowl at him.

"Asshole!" she huffed looking away.

Naruto shook his head at her antics "Well anyway Jackass won't be bothering us anymore." He stated regaining her attention when she looked at him in shock._ "That was fast."_

"He…he's really…gone." She asked desperately wanting to believe his words yet too afraid to hope after a lifetime of living in fear.

"Yup!" Naruto smiled. "No thanks to you."

Shion frowned at his words, "Last I checked you were the one who was tasked to protect me."

"Last I checked that protection entailed that you seal away the demon once I safely escorted you to the sealing shrine." He countered enjoying the blush of embarrassment on her face at his words. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who kept their end of the deal."

Shion hmphed once again looking away but then immediately came back down to earth and looked down in worry, "You sure he's really gone." She asked once more.

"Positive. One hundred percent." Naruto responded, how hard was it to reassure her. "Is it that hard to believe."

"Moryo was a monster that nearly overthrew the world." Shion said looking straight into his eyes. "So, it's a bit hard to register when a boy the same age as me claims that he killed the same demon that had this entire planet on edge."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "It's the truth whether you choose to believe it or not." He said. "Anyway, I have something to ask you."

Shion raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What?" she asked.

"Its about your vision regarding me and my friends." He said noting the look of discomfort on her face at the reminder. "Let it go already. I'm, here aren't I? I'm still alive. That proves your visions hold no merit."

She grimaced at the insult, "What about your teammates." She reminded him coldly.

"That's what I wanted to ask." He said her words having no effect on him. "In your vision did you by any chance see how and where they died. Not that it matters since I know your visions are flukes but it would give me something to work with when I search for them." He explained. "Not that I care but it doesn't look good on my record if I return to the village with the rest of my team MIA."

Shion shot him a queer look, baffled by his lack of regard for his teammates. Then again, she wasn't one to judge now was she considering how she'd treated her own subordinates till date._ "Taruho!"_ she shed a lone tear recalling how he'd sacrificed himself for her. She didn't notice the small movement underneath her clothes until she felt something prick her shoulder. She winced in pain before her stiffening, eyes widening in terror, pupils dilating, expression blanking as her body went rigid.

"Hello Earth to IP Man." Naruto said waving his hand in front of her face but got no response. "Hey I asked you a question." She didn't reply. "Hey you want me to smack you on the head again." He threatened, not getting an answer he did exactly that, she didn't even flinch. Worried now and knowing something was amiss he activated his Byakugan to scan for abnormalities in her chakra network and gasped when he saw one of those purple leaches from earlier latched on to her shoulder. "SHIT! IP MAN!" he yelled forced to leap back when a dark chakra exploded out of the girl.

Shion screamed in agony as the demonic entity too possession of her body. Every cell in her body felt like it was going up in flames, she fell to the ground writhing in pain muscular spasms seizing her body, the ground beneath them shaking as if hit by an earthquake.

Naruto gazed on with furrowed brows as the girl's body contorted and twisted abnormally, her skin becoming nearly as pale as Naruto's with cracks all over it, her voice becoming a deeper baritone and being reduced to unintelligible mumbles, moans and growls.

"Man, that's gotta hurt." Naruto shuddered deeply disturbed by the scene in front of him.

"**You've lost boy."** The demon spoke through Shion her body arching in torment as it spoke. **"She's mine now."**

"When did you plant that leach on her." Naruto spoke, it had to have happened sometime before they escaped the volcano, that was the only time the demon was in any close proximity with the priestess.

"**Wouldn't you like to know."** The demon taunted.** "Feeling remorseful at your incompetence."**

"Hardly." Naruto replied his blank expression giving reinforcing his statement. "Now answer the question."

"**I did it the moment I escaped Yomi's body and entered the barrier."** The demon explained making Naruto's eyes widen.** "It was a failsafe in case she had a trump card to use against me but all she turned about to be was a pathetic sniveling little brat."**

"Hear! Hear!" Naruto chanted agreeing with his adversary for once.

Shion screamed again her body bending into a fetal position, her veins becoming more prominent as several bruise marks and cuts began to appear all over her body. The demon once again spoke through her, **"Her only salvation was that bell she carried. Thankfully she misplaced it during the storm when I attacked your team at the cliff."**

"You sure played this beautifully." Naruto complimented the demon with genuine admiration and respect. "But that being said you know you can't beat me. You also must have deduced by now that I don't really care whether the girl lives or dies. So why bother possessing her? What do you have to gain?" Naruto questioned the demon. "In fact, when you really look at it, you're making things easy for me." He exclaimed. "I reckon if I destroy right now while your possessing IP Man's body, it might actually be permanent this time at the cost of her life of course."

The demon chuckled,** "Delusional fool. You couldn't be further from the truth. If anything, killing me now is nigh impossible now that our powers are becoming one once more."** It explained.

"Once more?" Naruto said confused, what did it mean?

"**She and I were originally one being before we split apart."** The demon revealed.

"Didn't see that coming." Naruto admitted, today was proving to be full of surprises. "So, what happens to her." He asked.

"**There will be no her nor I."** the demonic entity declared.** "There will only be one. A conglomerate of both our essence."**

Naruto frowned, "So in other words both of you merge into an entirely new much more powerful being."

Shion's face contorted into a twisted grin that sent a chill down his spine, **"Precisely! What I am now pales in comparison to what we are soon to become. Then we shall have Round 5."** It offered its tone almost a caress.

Naruto chuckled, "That's an enticing proposition." He exclaimed pondering in consideration, the offer was tempting, before shaking those corrupt thoughts away and replied, "Unfortunately I must refuse I have a mission to complete and a team to find, keeping in mind my current standing back at the village I can't compromise this assignment." He pointed out.

The possessed Shion threw her head back laughing maniacally,** "Pity! Not that it matters now. In a few moments her lifeforce will become one with mine, our powers becoming one and then this entire world will be ours."**

"Not on my watch." Naruto replied his pupilless eyes beginning to glow.

* * *

Shion found herself floating down in a sea of darkness. "Naruto," she almost sobbed out as she thought of the boy and his efforts to save her. "I… I'm sorry," she haltingly said choking on her words.

Moryo's villainous laugh filled her ears, **As long as you possess****ed**** that ****bell**** I c****ould not**** absorb you into me**** but now without its light to shield you,**** witness as our bodies become one and all those who tried to protect you perish, as the very world of humans' rots away,"** He finished with an evil cackle.

"I would have been fine with this," Shion began with a quiet sob. "If only I had known from the beginning that all those people who gave their lives for me wouldn't have had to die. Isn't that right, Mother?" she finished as she looked up to see a light within the darkness.

"Shion how I wish you could have spent your days in peace," Miroku's voice responded.

Once more she saw a vision of her mother's past. An attendant sat bowed before her spoke stating his concerns, "Su… Such a duty would be…"

"We must be careful with her power," her mother interrupted. "The slightest misstep and it could grow to be a menace even greater than Moryo. A heavy burden. One too great for Shion. So, we shall seal that power in this stone, and suppress what would awaken should she die. Even at the cost of our Peoples lives," She had said.

Reaching to the light and standing Shion called out, "Mother."

The light moved and she found herself within her mother's embrace. "Shion, your mother was unable to protect you and didn't have faith in you, do you hate me?" her mother sadly asked.

"Of course, I don't. Mother… I love you so much," Shion answered.

With her question answered she faded away and Shion began to emit the light. "**What? This is…"** Moryo voiced in a sudden concerned note.

'I understand. I know now how this power must be used,' Shion thought to herself.

"Kai!" she shouted releasing her physical form and taking on her ascended form. Her hair became pink and stood out at the sides as if to form angelic wings while the back went vertical rising on the currents of her power. A vertical halo of golden light with a single separate point of light similar to the crown she had worn as a priestess formed above her head. Pink lines and symbols flowed across her form. Finally, a tattered pale blue shawl seemed to dance about her and blue bangles encircled her wrists.

She raised her hand up and looked at it as she thought to herself, 'So many priestesses before me, I can even hear the voices of those who died before their time.'

'How far it all stretches back,' she mused as pink energy formed square seals below her feet that spread out away from her withing the black void that was Moryo.

"**Now I see your true power is held in that bell of yours," **growled out the voice of Moryo.

"So… this is the end?" she quietly muttered. Her eyes shining with unshed tears she said, "Naruto, can you hear me? From this day on… it's up to all of you to protect this world."

With a resigned smile she then stated, "Finally I know my destiny."

The memory of his speech at the lake came back to her, "ITS NOT USELESS! I won't let you die nor anyone else including myself. The future isn't written yet we can still change it. I got this! I promise I'll make the bad monsters go away. Trust me!"

"You're a terrible liar Naruto," she said with a quiet sob letting the tears fall. Raising her arms, she began to focus her power. 'You and I, we will disappear together,' she thought as Moryo began to scream.

Suddenly she felt a hand come to rest on her shoulder and was pulled back into her mortal form with a look of shock and confusion. "No, I'm not." Naruto's voice whispered into her ear. She spun around to face him taken aback by his appearance. "How did you get here." This was her mindscape.

"Telepathically IP Man. I used a technique that allows me to peer into, enter and manipulate the minds of others from the safe confines of my own." He revealed. "Took a while but I managed to pierce through this shady freak's defenses and find you." He explained.

For probably the millionth time that day Shion was left speechless, how many abilities did this guy have? Was he even human? She was seriously beginning to doubt it.

Naruto continued, "By the way loved the new look." He pointed out making her blush. "You're still looking like that on the outside just to let you know." He told her. "You should have seen it, it was awesome one moment you're like completely possessed emanating all this dark chakra blabbering like Christian Bale's Batman then the next moment you but really the demon starts screaming and you transform into this pink shiny half naked fairy princess from some X rated play boy magazine." He quickly caught incoming punch her face flush with anger. "What? It's the truth."

"Would you cut the bullshit already." She spat at him glaring at him with fury, sure he'd been saving her all day long but that didn't justify using such lewd references with her.

"Well sorry Miss I only like PG-13, but its not my fault you went from looking like Regan McNeil to Sparkle Titsworth." Naruto said in a sarcastic tone.

"YOOOOUUUU!" Shion roared outraged at his words she sprung at him only for him to catch her arms.

"Yeah we better get going." He stated before dragging her out of the darkness in to the light.

Outside in the real world Shion in her ascended form let out a loud gasp as Moryo's presence was expelled from her body the dark chakra leaving in the shape of a cloud which reformed into the weakened demon in humanoid form near the waterfall. Panting in exhaustion the demon collapsed to his knees falling down into the lake. Subsequently several water tendrils wrapped around it preventing it from escaping.

"No more tricks." Naruto said his hand outstretched his eyes an ocean blue color. "How you feeling IP Man."

Shion scowled, "Like castrating you and burning you at stake." She spat venomously at him.

Naruto whistled, "Oh that's harsh. You sure you don't still have traces of him in you." He winked at her while putting extra emphasis on the last two words.

"HUH!?" Shion went slack jawed a scandalized look on her face before it become incensed her aura shifting from light pink to a demonic red while her hair began flaying about violently. "NARUTOOOOOOOOO." She lunged at him but ended up colliding with an invisible force field shielding him.

"Ugh!" Naruto groaned picking his ear. "Keep it down will ya? It's not like I Can't hear you."

She pierced him with her hate filled eyes, "BASTARD DROP THAT SHIELD AND TAKE YOUR BEATING LIKE A MAN." She demanded.

"A bit preoccupied here." He motioned to his still extended hand holding the demon at bay.

"Then get rid of him." She barked impatiently.

"Yeah I need your help with that." He told her.

"And why would I help you." She challenged.

Naruto quirked a brow questioningly, "Alright I'll let him go then." He said lowering his hand but halted on Shion's protests.

"Okay fine!" she implored; this guy really knew how to push her buttons.

"Not interested." Naruto said snorting in disgust having read her mind.

"IDIOT!" Shion yelled turning crimson again.

"Yeah whatever." He replied lowering his shield and walked over to her still holding his hand out. "Okay now pay attention." He said turning her around and standing behind her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING." Shion cried jumping back freaked out at his actions she stumbled moving away blushing madly. "ARE YOU CRAZY. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU FUCKING DEGENERATE?"

Naruto looked blankly at her for a few seconds before exhaling sharply, "You know I've about had it with this shit." He spat nursing his temples. "No more." He declared telekinetically pulling the ascendant priestess to him ignoring her protests, once in his arms he shifted her around making her back press against his chest then overlapped his arms over hers and began synching his chakra with hers.

"What are you doing?" Shion asked confused having regained her wits somewhat.

"A technique only my sister Mito and I can perform." He explained, summoning thin streams of water that began to swirl around the immobilized demon which gazed on in fear. "Shion channel your power." The girl nodded uncertainly and did so bewildered when the swirling water began to glow. "That's more like it." Naruto smiled.

"**What is happening?"** Moryo said voice full of fear and horror as his body began to glow as well.** "What are you doing to me?"** He demanded shouting at the duo.

"Purifying you." Naruto revealed making both Shion and Moryo grow puzzled not understanding. "Oh for crying out loud I'm eliminating all your corrupt energy by purifying you down to the last neuron. In other words, you dead boy."

"**No! This is unacceptable! I refuse to believe that a pair of mere humans can do this to me****."** Moryo screamed in denial trying to break free like a maniac as his body started to dissipate from below.** "I am the supreme ruler of this world; I cannot be defeated."**

"OH, JUST DIE ALREADY." Naruto shouted angrily tripling the chakra input into his technique.

The demon screamed in anguish as its entire being glowed a brilliant gold the light silhouetting the duo, before being purified completely as it dematerialized into oblivion.

"It's finally over." Shion exhaled dropping out of her transcended form and to the ground.

"Good riddance!" Naruto sighed in relief, at the ends of mental exhaustion._ "I'm never doing another escort mission again."_ He decided. His senses were alerted suddenly to several incoming chakra signatures causing him to tense and teetering on the brink of madness he actually considered blowing the whole place up so that these stupid nuisances would stop randomly popping out from nowhere. However, on closer inspection he recognized the approaching presences and relaxed deciding to discard his plan his face even breaking into a large grin. "Looks like I won't have to search for them after all." Best news he'd heard all day. "All's well that ends well." He breathed contentedly.

"Huh! Did you say something Naruto?" Shion looked back only to find that Otsutsuki was gone. "What? Where did he go?"

"LADY SHION!"

Shion pulled her head up and gasped on seeing the members of Team 7 she'd presumed dead to land down beside her.

"Lady shion are you alright?" the boy with the same eyes as Naruto asked her, Neji that was his name she recalled.

"I'm fine." She replied still laying seated on the ground, she was to exhausted to stand honestly.

"Where's Naruto?" the one with the gravity defying gray hair and mask inquired.

"He's gone." Shion answered.

"WHAT? What do you mean?" Lee broke in his voice laced with concern; the others bars seemed a bit anxious too at the fate of their comrade.

Shion looke down her hair shadowing her face, "He said my visions held no merit, that they were flukes."

The others gave each other puzzled looks, not sure what to say to that.

She raised her head and locked eyes with them, "He defeated Moryo and survived."

Both Guy and Lee cried out in happiness at the news while Shikamaru, Temari and Neji simply smiled.

"Well that's a surprise." Kakashi said visibly relaxing.

Sakura frowned not really fond of the albino but nodded her head in acknowledgment of the boy's achievement. She'd give him his due, he'd earned it.

Their celebration was cut short when Shikamaru spoke, "So where is he?" he asked.

That got their attention and Lee was the first one to react.

"Yes, tell us where our youthful comrade has gone so that we may find him and decorate him like a hero such as he deserves." Lee said his passion flaring like the burning flames in his eyes.

"Take it easy Lee." Kakashi said with an eye smile sweat dropping at the boy's behavior.

"But the question still stands." Guy interrupted. "Where has he gone?" they all directed their gazes at the priestess who simply shrugged.

"No idea!"

* * *

Konoha

Hokage Tower

Team 7 along with Ken were in Tsunade's office giving their report.

"After escorting Lady Shion back to her shrine we took our leave and made our way back here." Neji concluded with his account of their mission.

Tsunade took a moment going through the facts in her mind before speaking, "So in short you mean to tell me that not only did Otsutsuki single handedly take on an ancient demon but he also eliminated him with some minor help from the priestess, am I right?"

"Yes Milady." Neji replied, nodding in the affirmative.

Tsunade bit at her thumb nail, _"Then he's gotten far stronger than I imagined."_ She thought.

Sakura noticed her master's distress. "Is something the matter Milady."

Tsunade broke out of her musings and shook her head, "No! you may take your leave now. I expect a full written report on my desk by tomorrow morning, understood?"

The ninja bowed and the began leaving the room.

"Kakashi, Ken stay."

"Yes milady." They both said waiting until the others exited the office. Once everyone had left Tsunade activated the privacy seals so that no one could hear them.

"You wanted to talk to us." Ken asked, feeling uncomfortable due to the vibes she was giving off.

Tsunade frowned at him, "Ken I'm going to ask you a question, and I expect an honest answer." She told him.

"Ofcourse." Ken replied but still seemed a bit unsure.

Kakashi watched their interaction with interest, he didn't know much about the Otsutsuki siblings. But from what he'd gathered and seen so far Ken seemed to be on far more amicable terms with the general shinobi forces and Hokage Office than any of his siblings. Which made the current tension in the room cause for concern.

Tsunade's brown orbs bore into Ken's white, "I'll get straight to it then, if Naruto was to go rogue would you be able to stop him?"

The question caught both ninja by surprise, Shizune didn't react, this had been a long time coming.

"_Well that was blunt."_ Ken thought to himself.

"_Lady Tsunade doubts Otsutsuki's loyalty, but why?"_ Kakashi pondered internally._ "If she doesn't trust him why let him into the village let alone join the shinobi forces in the first place?"_

Ken tried to play dumb, "I don't think I understand Milady."

"I think you do." Tsunade said not giving him an inch.

Ken kept trying, "I mean to say what makes you think he'd desert the village at all?"

Tsunade shot up slamming her fist on her desk nearly cracking it in half, "KEN OTSUTSUKI NEITHER OF US ARE FOOLS SO STOP PLAYING THE PART AND STOP PRETENDING THAT I AM ONE. WE BOTH KNOW YOUR BROTHER HAS ABOUT AS MUCH LOYALTY TO THIS VILLAGE AS HE DOES TO THE HYUGA." She shouted at him.

Both men were taken back by her outburst.

Tsunade took her seat again crossing her arms, "Your sibling is a volatile individual, who's actions are based on his emotions and seldom reason, his abandoning his comrades over a minor tantrum during this mission being a prime example."

"But he also ended up protecting the client and defeating the enemy." Ken asserted defending his brother.

Tsunade gave him a disapproving look, "Ken we both know he only did that for personal amusement and to sate his own desires to test himself. He didn't do it because he was ordered to, he didn't do it for the village and from what Team 7 has reported I can safely say he didn't do it to protect his comrades either."

"Lady Tsunade if I may." Kakashi interrupted requesting permission to add his own two scents.

"Yes Kakashi." She motioned him to speak.

"With all due respect Milady, the enemy displayed abilities beyond any I have ever seen or heard about except in legends. Given the circumstances it was only natural that Naruto focus his efforts on ensuring the client's survival since she was the only one who could stop it." He let his words sink in. "He wouldn't have been able to do that if he was looking out for all of us. Hard as it is to say but she was the priority, even at the cost of our lives."

Tsunade chuckled softly shaking her head in disbelief, "And yet the moment you're out of the picture Naruto takes him out and comes out of it unscratched."

"We don't know that." Ken pointed out.

Tsunade nodded. "Exactly we don't know that because rather than report in like every other ninja after a mission he takes off to do God knows what." Her words were laced with venom.

"Maybe he's hurt." Ken tried to reason.

"Not likely if Lady Shion's account is to believed." Tsunade disputed, "According to her he was the one who performed the Jutsu that finally ended Moryo while she only added her chakra to it. Afterwards she collapsed whereas the last she saw of him he was still standing."

"Okay so he went AWOL for a bit." Ken conceded. "And obviously its not model shinobi behavior, but that still doesn't give us reason to think he'd betray Konoha."

"He's threatened to do so several times over the last week alone." Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"He threatens to do a lot of things." Ken said dismissively. "Doesn't mean we should take him seriously."

"Ken your letting your personal feelings interfere with reason." Tsunade said hoping the boy would get the message. She honestly didn't want to put him in this position but he was the only one she could trust and rely on to keep his siblings in check. Mito was too loyal to the Hyuga over the village for her liking, Otsutsuki was a disaster in the making and Hachiro…" she couldn't help but shudder, that boy rubbed her the wrong way. Ken was the sole person amongst them who'd displayed belief in the Leaf's Will of Fire, considered everyone in the village his family and proven his loyalty time and time again. His sincerity coupled with his genetic talent made him the ideal shinobi in her book. Which is why she hated having to put him through this, but it had to be done.

"And I assure you Milady that personal feelings aside I have no reservations in regards to my brother's loyalty." Ken said with a tone finality. "You'll just have to take my word for it." He concluded leaving no room for further argument.

Tsunade grimaced, "Kakashi what's your take on this?"

The masked Jonin scratched his head unsure of how to reply.

"Kakashi."

"Yes well!" Kakashi said taking a deep breath. "To be honest I haven't interacted much with him or any of the Otsutsuki siblings for that matter, so I can't really say."

Tsunade glowered, this wasn't going the way she hoped. "Fine! However, on his return I expect him in my office and to face the repercussions of leaving the village without notifying first."

Ken smiled relieved that the interrogation was over, "Don't worry I'll drag him in myself the moment he shows up."

The blonde narrowed her eyes, "If he shows up that is."

Ken smirked, "He will, because he doesn't run from anything."

"Except from little girls apparently." Tsunade added, but meant it as a joke.

Ken nodded chuckling softly, "That's true." He agreed.

Tsunade smiled at him, "Jonin Otsutsuki you are dismissed."

"Milady." Ken bowed and then made for the door, he was half way out when he heard her voice.

"Ken!"

"Milady!" he glanced back wondering what else she had to say.

She looked at him, "You never answered my question."

The boy sweat dropped "Which one?" he asked feigning ignorance.

Tsunade internally smiled he wasn't leaving here without sating her curiosity, "Could you beat and restrain him the if the situation ever called for it."

Kakashi observed the tension return into the room with those words, the distress the question caused Ken was palpable evident by the stiffening of his shoulders and the sudden lack of emotion on his face, a sharp contrast to his cheery persona just seconds earlier.

"I'm waiting." She persisted, urging him to reply.

Ken ran his hand through his hair, lost in thought, an inner turmoil raging within him as he measured the pros against the cons of his answer. His response alone could very well determine the future of his family within the village.

"KEN!"

"NO! No, I can't" Ken admitted staring back at her. "I wouldn't be able to stop him. He's too much for me."

"I see." Tsunade said giving nothing away. "That will be all. You can go now."

"Milady." He left closing the door behind him.

Tsunade sunk back into her chair from emotional exhaustion.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune tried to help her master.

"I'm fine Shizune." Tsunade replied waving away her apprentice's concerns.

Shizune looked like she wanted to say something but given her master's current state of mind she decided to stay quiet.

"Kakashi from now on I want you to keep tabs on the Otsutsuki." Tsunade ordered the cyclops. "Keep an eye out for any unusual behavior and report it back to me."

"Understood." Kakashi nodded. "You do know however that they'd likely pick up on it."

"That's a risk we'll have to take." Tsunade stated. "Dismissed!"


End file.
